The nations gather in Geneva on Tuesday to try to complete an important contract aimed at terminating the crisis of plastic pollution, which affects every ecosystem and person of the planet.
This is the sixth time the negotiators meet and they expect to be the last. The main division is whether the contract should need to cut plastic production, while the opposite nations that produce the opposite of oil; Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. They say that redesign, recycling and re -use can solve the problem, while other countries and some main companies say it is not enough.
Only the contract can concentrate the necessary global action, said Angelique Pupuponneau, who led the ocean negotiator for 39 small islands and low -rotating coastal countries. At home in Seychelles, said Pupuponneau, plastic contaminated the fish they eat, accumulate on the beaches and choke the ocean to hurt tourism and their lifestyle.
“This is the last opportunity for the world to do it and arrange it,” she said. “That would be a tragedy if we didn’t keep our mandate.”
Iger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, said the problems are complex, but the crisis is “truly spiral” and is a narrow path to the contract. She said that many countries agree to reorganize plastic products that will be recycled and improved, for example, waste management.
“We have to get the problem of this problem. Everyone wants it. I haven’t yet met what supports plastic pollution,” Andersen said.
According to the UN, between 19 million and 23 million tons of plastic waste drain into water ecosystems, which until 2040 Could jump 50% by 2040 without urgent action.
Sharp disagreements about restricting plastic production
2022 March 175 The nations agreed to enter into the first legally binding contract for plastics pollution until 2024. The end of the end. This had to be solved by the entire plastic life cycle, including production, project and removal.
The negotiations in South Korea had to be the last round last year, but in December. They set aside a deadlock due to cutting production. The world earns more than 400 million tonnes of new plastic each year, which can grow by about 70 percent. By 2040, amendments to policies.
About 100 countries want to limit production as well as to decide cleaning and processing. Many said it was necessary to deal with toxic chemicals.
Panama in South Korea encouraged the production of production in the contract. The negotiator, Debbra Cssera, said he would do so again in Geneva because he strongly believes that he was seeking a source of pollution, not just measures such as waste management.
“If we now avoid that ambition, we risk making an agreement that is politically convenient, but the environment is ineffective,” she said.
About 300 companies, which are members of the World Plastic Treaty Business Coalition members-such as Walmart, Coca-Cola Company, Pepsiico and L’Oréal-Reduction of products along with increasing processing and re-use. The coalition includes the main food and beverage companies and retailers who want an effective contract with the global rules to provide them with different approaches to headaches in different countries.
Some plastic production and oil and gas countries are strongly opposed to production. Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of one of the usual plastic types in the world, has encouraged the group to claim that there should be no problem making plastic if the world is appealing to plastic pollution.
US position on the contract
The US does not support world -making hats or prohibits certain plastic products or chemical additives.
The State Department says it supports the provisions of how to improve waste collection and management, improve product design and promote processing, re -use and other efforts to cut plastic thrown into the environment.
“If the negotiations are successful, the agreement must be intended to protect the environment from plastic pollution, and the agreement should recognize that plastics are important in our economy,” the Associated Press said in a statement of the State Department.
It is similar to images of the plastic industry, which states that the upper limit of production can have unexpected consequences, such as increasing the price of plastics, while chemicals are best regulated elsewhere.
Based on the plastic industry, China, the US and Germany are leading global exports and imports of plastics.
How high will the negotiators seek?
That any offer to enter the contract must agree. Some countries want to change the process, so decisions may be made if necessary. India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and others resisted that consensus was vital to an effective treaty.
The negotiators are discussing the choice or refusal of some provisions to avoid deadlock. Bjorn Beeler, International Coordinator of the International Pollution Network, said it would mean a contract without teeth or obligations with little value. Cisgeos said that if carefully made, it is an opportunity to find a common basis.
Tracey Campbell, Vice President of the Lyondellbell, Vice President of the World Plastic Council Executive Committee, said she would ask the negotiators to “find a few things and start” and then create from there.
She offered to deal with things such as product redevelopment, mandates of recycled content and financing of waste collection, waste sorting and recycling technology.
On the contrary, Greenpeace will be in Geneva, calling for the 2040s. The least reduction of plastic production.
“We will never recycle our way out of this problem,” said Graham Forbes, who led the Greenpeace delegation.
Thousands of people involved
Geneva has delegates from most countries, plastics industry and business that uses plastic, environmentalists, scientists, local leaders and communities, affected by plastic pollution. About 80 government ministers participate in negotiations, which will last 10 days – the longest session until the delay is scheduled for August 14th.
Frankie Oona, the executive director of the local nations in Texas, participated in every negotiation session. Local land, water and air are contaminated because fossil fuels are extracted and plastic is produced using hazardous chemicals, said Oona.
“We think we need to be to tell them and see who are the people who actually affect the plastic crisis,” he said.
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