The solutions to plastic pollution are complex, transboundary, and multilateral. With plastic sources so varied, ranging from textiles and tire dust to plastic bottles and packaging, the requisite global response must be holistic and dynamic, requiring coordinated action by diverse stakeholders at the national, regional, and international levels. Despite the growing recognition that long-term, comprehensive, and multilateral action is necessary, no international agreement exists that focuses primarily on combating plastic pollution.

The growing recognition that plastic pollution is an issue of global concern, and that the existing global legal framework is unfit to tackle it, has opened a window of opportunity at the international level. Several options are being explored with dedicated work streams underway. At the third session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) in December 2017, countries joined together to pass a resolution on marine litter and microplastics.

In a historic decision in March 2022, United Nations Member States adopted a mandate to negotiate a global plastics treaty at the resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2). The mandate, “End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument,” sets out a goal for the treaty to be negotiated before the end of 2024. While the mandate provides the general objective and frame for the negotiation, the treaty’s content, design, reach, and function will be developed between 2022 and 2024. Now CIEL and partners are attending the negotiations to ensure a strong, ambitious and just plastics treaty.

In addition, CIEL is working to strengthen existing international and regional instruments to more effectively address plastic pollution. For example, CIEL has advocated for a proposal to amend the Basel Convention on the Controls of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal to ensure countries most threatened by plastic pollution can refuse plastic waste they cannot safely manage and better protect their environment and population. Additional areas of work include the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (MARPOL) and other maritime-related instruments, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).

MORE RESOURCES

NEWSLETTER  | UNEA | EXPERT GROUP  | BRS CONVENTIONS | RESOURCES

Recognizing the plastic crisis as a serious and rapidly growing issue of concern that requires an urgent global response, Member States of the United Nations have set into motion enhanced global action on ocean plastic. Below are links to updates and information on each of those processes and the engagement efforts that CIEL and its partners in the Break Free From Plastic movement and beyond have undertaken to ensure the full lifecycle of plastic is included in all policy considerations.

PROGRESS ON PLASTICS: ONGOING UPDATES

Representatives of the #breakfreefromplastic movement have been participating in the United Nations processes on plastic, marine litter, and microplastics since 2017, supporting a joint call for an international legally binding agreement on plastic and plastic pollution. Our work across these institutions in shared in updates from the ground during and after each meeting through the Progress on Plastics newsletter, a joint editorial effort of several organizations.

Read the updates:

INCs

In March 2022, United Nations Member States adopted a mandate to negotiate a global plastics treaty at the resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2). The mandate, “End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument,” sets out a goal for the treaty to be negotiated before the end of 2024. While the mandate provides the general objective and frame for the negotiation, the treaty’s content, design, reach, and function will be developed between 2022 and 2024.

Following UNEA-5.2, negotiating the future instrument has unfolded, first in an ad hoc Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) in Dakar, Senegal, which focused on developing rules of procedures for the negotiation, and subsequently in two Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meetings —  INC-1 and INC-2 — occurred, respectively, in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in November 2022 and in Paris, France in May 2023.

UNEA

The UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) and UN Ocean Conference have taken on directly the issue of marine plastic litter and microplastics, and CIEL and its partners have provided expert insight and guidance since the early days of this process. 

Momentum Towards a Global Plastics Treaty

UNEA 5.2 (May 2022)

UNEA4 (March 2019)

UNEA3 (December 2017)

EXPERT GROUP ON MARINE LITTER & MICROPLASTICS

At the UNEA3 meeting in December 2017, States formed an Ad-Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group (AHOEEG) to present options to combat marine plastic litter and microplastics for consideration of Member States, experts, and civil society. This body met twice in 2018 and will be meeting three times leading up to UNEA5 in February 2021. 

3rd AHOEEG Meeting (November 2019)

2nd AHOEEG Meeting (December 2018)

1st AHOEEG Meeting (May 2018)

BASEL, ROTTERDAM, & STOCKHOLM CONVENTIONS

As of 2019, 187 countries have taken a major step toward solving the plastic waste crisis by adding plastic to the Basel Convention, a treaty that controls the movement of hazardous waste from one country to another. The ever-expanding research on plastic and its chemical additives further raises awareness about their potential relevance to the Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions, covering persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and hazardous chemicals, respectively.

Basic Plastic Amendment Implementation:

ADDITIONAL PLASTIC RESOURCES

CIEL and our partners have produced a number of resources of pivotal interest to Member States, interested stakeholders, and other participants in the global policy process.