Plastic recycling in focus as treaty talks start

As talks start this week on a global plastics treaty, debate is emerging between countries wanting to limit the production of more plastics and the petrochemical industry favouring recycling as the solution to plastic waste.

Ahead of a meeting starting on Monday, many countries have said a goal of the treaty should be “circularity” — or keeping already-produced plastic items in circulation as long as possible.

Coming into the talks in Paris, a 55-nation coalition called for a strong treaty including restrictions on certain hazardous chemicals as well as bans on problematic plastics products that are hard to recycle and often end up in nature.

“We have a responsibility to protect human health in our environment from the most harmful polymers and chemicals of concern through the treaty,” said Rwanda’s environment minister, Jeanne d’arc Mujawamariya, who is the co-chair of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution.

French President Emmanuel Macron said “there is no time to lose” on the issue.

“The aim must be to produce a text that everyone agrees on by the end of 2024, a year before the United Nations Conference on Oceans in Nice,” he said in a video message released on Monday.

The UN Environment Program (UNEP), which is hosting the talks, released a blueprint for reducing plastic waste by 80 per cent by 2040. The report, issued earlier this month, outlined three key areas of action: reuse, recycling and reorientation of plastic packaging to alternative materials.

Some environmental groups criticized the report for focusing on waste management, which they saw as a concession to the global plastics and petrochemicals industry.

“Real solutions to the plastics crisis will require global controls on chemicals in plastics and significant reductions in plastic production,” said Therese Karlsson, science advisor with the International Pollutants Elimination Network.

Under a new group, called Global Partners for Plastics Circularity, the industry has put mechanical and chemical recycling at the centre of its position.