Academics and Attorneys Call for An International Plastic Treaty

New Article in Science Argues that a Bold, Comprehensive, Full Life Cycle Approach to the Plastic Pollution Crisis is Necessary

Geneva — Attempts to regulate plastic through regional or piecemeal approaches are ultimately insufficient to address the scale and projected expansion of the industry. Instead, a team of attorneys and academics argue in an article that appeared today in Science, that the starting point for curbing the plastic pollution crisis is the adoption of an internationally binding agreement across the entire life cycle.

Recent studies demonstrate both the magnitude and the transboundary nature of the crisis, with plastic appearing in ecosystems, the atmosphere, and throughout the human body, while analyses reveal social, environmental, and economic impacts from extraction of raw materials to legacy plastic pollution. As the article states, “Targeting the full life cycle of plastics allows for a more equitable distribution of the costs and benefits of relevant actions across the global value chain.”

Giulia Carlini, Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and one of the article co-authors, stated, “Even though researchers agree that there is still more to discover in terms of the full range of impacts  from plastic, there is no time to waste.”  

She continued, “We see it at the health level — where plastic has harmful effects, from consumers unknowingly ingesting hazardous additives and frontline communities inhaling toxics from incinerators. A treaty is a push for stakeholders to re-envision and re-design entire systems in a manner that works for health and the environment, and respects human rights.”

The paper outlines key goals of a treaty, including:

  • Minimize virgin plastics production and consumption using an agreement to progressively decrease the global production allowance. Production and consumption should be phased out by 2040, with recycled content becoming the standard, with limited exceptions.
  • Facilitate safe circularity of plastics, incentivizing the design for recycling, improving recycling rates, and fostering recycled content. The process would include eliminating hazardous substances, providing health benefits to consumers and ecosystems while transforming the entire plastics value chain.
  • Eliminate plastic pollution in the environment, addressing both plastics that have already accumulated and those already in use from ending up in the environment. To meet the goal, there must be a scaling up of existent national and regional-level instruments.
  • Develop solutions that are commensurate with plastic’s role in contributing to the climate crisis, recognizing that if plastic production continues at its anticipated pace, the increase in virgin plastics production will consume 10 to 13% of the remaining global carbon budget to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C.        

The article appears after a February 2021 United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), where more than 40 countries spoke in favor of establishing an international agreement. Since then, two countries — Peru and Rwanda — have announced their intention to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee to begin the process of developing the framework at UNEA in February 2022. More recently, the subject has emerged at the June 2021 G7 meeting and in a declaration from 79 countries. Still, the United States has remained silent on the issue, and countries like South Africa have reversed their initial support.

“The current international and regional frameworks used to regulate plastic amount to a patchwork system with considerable gaps, as evidenced by recent research into the continuing increase of the presence of plastics across the environment and in our bodies.” David Azoulay, program director of the Environmental Health at CIEL and article co-author, stated, “Unfortunately, solutions that are being discussed too often narrowly focus on single aspects of the plastic crisis, and risk magnifying the problems we are already seeing. For an agreement, such as a treaty, to work as intended, it must be designed in such a way that it complements and fills in gaps in the existing framework while including all relevant stakeholders across the supply chain.” 

He continues, “Awareness about the plastic crisis has never been so high and we are seeing an unprecedented number of initiatives at multiple levels attempting to solve it. While treaties can present their own unique challenges, available research makes it abundantly clear that without a treaty, myopic attempts to respond to the crisis will be insufficient and will fail to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment and in our bodies. The world needs a treaty to support and unify regional and national initiatives. This is a historic opportunity to align political decisions with what science tells us is necessary. There is no excuse for further delays to negotiations.”

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The authors of the article include:

Karen Raubenheimer (University of Wollongong, Australia)
Niko Urho (University of Massachusetts Boston, USA)
David Azoulay (Center for International Environmental Law, Switzerland)
Trisia Farrelly (Massey University, New Zealand)
Joao Sousa (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Switzerland)
Harro van Asselt (University of Eastern Finland, Finland)
Giulia Carlini (Center for International Environmental Law, Switzerland)
Christian Sekomo (National Industrial Research and Development Agency, Rwanda)
Maro Luisa Schulte (adelphi, Germany)
Per-Olof Busch (adelphi, Germany)
Nicole Wienrich (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Germany)
Laura Weiand (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Germany)

 

Additional Sources

 

Media contact

Cate Bonacini, press(at)ciel.org

This press release was posted on 07/01/2021.