Latest phase of UN plastic treaty negotiations closes

The fourth session of the UN's Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international, legally binding instrument to tackle plastic pollution ended on 29 April. But from the updated drafts released at the end of the negotiating session in Ottawa, Canada, it remains unclear what shape the final text will take.

The treaty under discussion covers areas including waste management, product design, measurement and reporting of progress, and financing. There are plans for further inter-sessional negotiations on an updated draft text ahead of the fifth session in Busan, South Korea in November.

"Much work remains to be done to narrow the gaps in understanding, as well as bridge the divides on the scope and objective of the future treaty," the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) said. "This was evident as meetings to discuss the technical elements of the text diverged on almost all points of discussion, from problematic and avoidable plastics to product design, composition and performance."

European plastic industry association PlasticsEurope acknowledged progress during the discussions but said that "the clock is now ticking loudly" and called on "all stakeholders" to redouble their efforts to reach an agreement. It also called for observers to be present at inter-sessional negotiations "to maintain the transparency and technical integrity of the draft agreement".

There is "growing recognition" of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes — where producers and sellers of plastic products contribute to the cost of managing the resulting waste — as a tool for managing end-of-life plastics, PlasticsEurope added.

But the association expressed concern at a lack of progress towards supporting the circular economy by creating more demand for plastic waste and secondary raw materials. "The focus must now shift to policy measures that will increase the value of plastic waste as a circular feedstock by increasing demand for circular plastic raw materials, including the introduction of mandatory recycled content targets for sectors that use plastics at the national level," it said.

Mandatory recycled content requirements are one of the topics under discussion, although the updated draft released on 29 April appears less firm on this topic than the draft released following the negotiating committee's third session. The option for unilateral recycled content targets does not appear in the updated draft, and options to encourage national plans for recycled content requirements now include references for consideration to the targets applying "where economically viable" and "where affordable, accessible and available". These were not in the previous draft.

"We came to Ottawa to advance the text and with the hope that members would agree on the inter-sessional work required to make even greater progress... We leave Ottawa having achieved both goals and a clear path to landing an ambitious deal in Busan ahead of us," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme.

By Will Collins