Plastic pollution treaty talks in South Korea conclude; local delegates return home
Two Center for Coalfield Justice staff members have returned from Busan, South Korea, where world leaders and organizations gathered last week to hammer out details on a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution.
But negotiations on what would have been the first-ever United Nations plastic treaty – a legally binding agreement on plastics pollution, including in the oceans – concluded on Monday without an agreement being reached.
Negotiators plan to resume talks next year, but no date has been set.
Sarah Martik, Executive Director of CCJ, a Washington-based organization, and Alex Downing, CCJ’s digital communications strategist, were part of the Break Free from Plastic – U.S. Environmental Justice delegation that took part in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution.
”There were some parts of the process that were very disappointing and very frustrating, but other things that happened were really inspiring and made me feel like we could tackle this problem,” said Martik, noting that much of the negotiations took place behind closed doors, leaving few opportunities for observers to impact the treaty. “The biggest problem would have been if we had walked away with a weak treaty, so I’m still hopeful. But it should have been more transparent, and there’s a lot of work to be done.”
The session held in South Korea – the fifth round of negotiations – was the largest to date, with more than 3,300 participants, including delegates from more than 170 countries and representatives from about 450 organizations.
In a statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that hundreds of millions of tons of plastics are discarded each year, polluting land and waterways.
According to the UN, the world produced over 460 million tons of plastic in 2022, more than the weight of all humans combined. Single-use plastic products make up one-third of that.
The use of plastics has quadrupled over the past 30 years. Every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes, the UN said. Without policy changes, plastic production could climb about 70% by 2040.
A coalition led by Panama, Norway and Rwanda advocated for a treaty that addresses the entire lifecycle of plastics, from production to consumption to disposal.
Martik said international alliances that formed throughout the week were cause for optimism.
“It was encouraging to see that countries like Panama and Rwanda led the coalition of more than 100 countries who want to see significant cuts to plastics production and didn’t fold to pressure from petrochemical companies,” said Martik.
A number of countries at the Busan treaty talks said that they want to address the total amount of plastic produced on the planet.
“(Plastics) is a problem that impacts everyone on the planet,” said Martik. “Having partners from across the country with us there was a really good feeling. The fact that we were able to come together as a global movement is significant. And we learned things from being there that we can bring back to our communities.”