2023-11-19 21:49:14
International negotiations against the proliferation of plastic waste ended in Kenya on Sunday, with disagreements over the scope of the treaty. Environmental NGOs have expressed their frustration at the lack of concrete progress.
Negotiators from 175 countries spent a week at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi trying to find common ground on a draft treaty to address the growing problem of plastic pollution.
>> Reread: Kenya, a crucial step in negotiations for a treaty against plastic pollution
The stakes in these negotiations were high because plastic, resulting from petrochemicals, is everywhere: waste of all sizes is already found at the bottom of the oceans and on the tops of mountains. Microplastics have been detected in blood or breast milk.
If the different parties agree on the need for a treaty, the substance diverges between the NGOs which plead for the reduction of 75% of production by 2040 and the oil producing countries and the lobbies of the plastic industries which campaign more in favor of recycling.
Many ideas
“We (now) have a document, a draft text, which encompasses a much broader range of ideas,” says Stewart Harris, spokesperson for the International Council of Chemical Associations, an important lobby that defends the interests of the plastic industry. “I think it was a useful week,” he says.
A different story for several environmental NGOs who have accused certain countries, notably Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia, of having engaged in “obstruction”.
“Compromising the needs of those most affected to satisfy the desires of those who profit from the problem is not a feasible strategy,” deplores Graham Forbes of Greenpeace.
For NGOs, time is running out and a binding treaty is necessary because plastic pollution is expected to get worse: annual production has more than doubled in twenty years to reach 460 million tonnes. It could triple by 2060 if nothing is done. However, only 9% of plastics are recycled.
A role in climate change
Plastic also plays a role in climate change: it represented 3.4% of global emissions in 2019, a figure which could more than double by 2060, according to the OECD.
The Nairobi meeting is the third of five sessions in an accelerated process aimed at concluding the negotiations next year.
After the Kenyan capital, negotiations must continue in April 2024 in Canada and conclude in South Korea at the end of 2024.
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