The penultimate round of UN talks for a future plastics treaty has drawn to a close in Canada. Tearfund sent a delegation to the summit to advocate for a strong legally-binding treaty that would protect the rights of waste pickers.
After a week of discussions, delegates from more than 150 countries agreed a mandate for intersessional work. This means between now and November 2024, when the last stage of the treaty talks is due to take place in South Korea, delegates will meet to look at approaches for identifying plastic products/chemicals of concern, analysing product design for reuse and recycling, and examine resourcing mechanisms for implementation of the treaty.
Tearfund, an international aid and development charity, has been at the fourth stage of the UN talks (also called INC4) in Ottawa, Canada calling on governments to push for a treaty that fully addresses the impacts of waste on people living in poverty, by ensuring four things are mandatory in the final agreement:
- Reduction: legally binding targets to reduce plastic production and scale up reuse solutions
- Recycling: universal access to waste collection and recycling
- Respect: support for waste pickers, including a just transition
- Response: mechanisms to ensure businesses and governments take action
Rich Gower, senior economist at Tearfund, said:
“An ambitious and effective treaty is still possible, but negotiations are on a knife-edge: time is short and strong opposition remains from the petrochemicals industry and states connected with it, even as their products pile up on street corners and in water courses around the world.
“The global plastics crisis demands a strong treaty, and negotiators owe affected communities every effort to deliver it. This will require commitment and creativity as negotiations continue before the final meeting in Busan, South Korea.”
Tearfund plastics campaigner Dr Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa, lecturer in the Biological Sciences Department at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST), who was at the talks, said:
“Everyday while these negotiations continue and the treaty still hangs in the balance, people in Africa are being affected by the devastating impacts of plastic pollution.
“But this week I have also had the opportunity to learn how African states are acting at the national level, sharing their own innovations and steps to help stop the rubbish.
“But they can’t do this on their own; to truly eradicate plastic pollution we need a strong, legally-binding global plastics treaty.”
Alejandro Mena, Chile's National Association of Waste Pickers, and member of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers:
“We are now seeing broad support for a just transition for waste pickers in the treaty with positive statements from a continuously growing number of member states and regional groupings, a completely different scenario from the first round of negotiations, where the term 'just transition' was barely even mentioned.
“The treaty must include a mandatory just transition for waste pickers, who are essential workers in the circular economy and recycling systems, and indigenous peoples. No one is left behind.”
ENDS
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