Plastic recycling in focus as treaty talks get under way in Paris

PARIS – With countries meeting this week to work on a global plastics treaty, debate was 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 the talks starting Monday in Paris, many countries have said a goal of the treaty should be “circularity” – or keeping already-produced plastic items in circulation as long as possible.

The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) hosting the talks released a blueprint for reducing plastic waste by 80 per cent by 2040. In the report, issued earlier in May, it outlined three key areas of action: reuse, recycling and reorientation of plastic packaging to alternative materials.

Some environmental groups criticised 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 Dr 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.

Unep executive director Inger Andersen told Reuters that the criticism of recycling being in the report ignored the report’s broader recommendations for overhauling packaging.

“We’re talking about redesign, and when we’re talking redesign, it’s everything that we need to do so that we use less plastic,” she said. “That’s where it begins.”

Public health worry

During the first round of talks last November in Uruguay, countries set an ambitious deadline of having a legally binding treaty agreed within a year.

As yet, delegates were still deciding on the treaty’s core objectives – including whether some plastics should be banned and ways to improve waste management.

Countries also have yet to resolve key issues including methods for financing policies as well as how policies would be implemented and reported on.