Huge challenge looms to achieve pact on plastic

Ed Shepherd, senior global sustainability manager at Unilever, said, "Despite ambitious goals, innovation and significant investment, the (plastics) problem is actually getting worse.

"It's become clear that this problem is systemic and fundamentally entrenched in the global economy. We've reached the point where we need a common framework that recognizes the true scale of this issue and the global nature of complex value chains."

Shepherd said redesigning packaging to use less, better or no plastic at all will require cutting-edge science, technology and innovation.

"A treaty that reduces virgin plastic production will create the right conditions to accelerate growth in new business models," he added.

Nations criticized

The proposed treaty will also attempt to improve waste management for plastics, encouraging nations to increase domestic capacity for recycling and waste-to-energy plants, and to reduce exports of plastic waste.

European nations have again come under fire in recent weeks over their plastic waste export strategies after a Greenpeace investigation uncovered the illegal dumping and burning of foreign waste in Turkey.

Following the Chinese ban on plastic waste imports in 2018, Turkey emerged as a leading destination for plastic waste exports from several European countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany.

Greenpeace reported that Turkey is struggling to deal with a dramatic increase in shipped plastic waste which has led to irreversible environmental damage, according to the organization.

Soil analysis at five sites in Turkey found more than 60 toxic chemicals. At one site, levels of dioxins and furans, which can cause a range of health problems, were found to be 400,000 times higher than at a control site, the highest-ever level reported in Turkish soil. Supermarket packaging indicated that some of the mismanaged waste at these sites originated from the UK.

The Greenpeace investigation prompted the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or DEFRA, to hold an evidence session late last month, which looked into UK waste export practices.

Before imposing an import ban on environmental grounds, China was the main destination for plastic waste exports from Europe, accounting for 80 percent of such shipments. After the ban was introduced, numerous shipments were redirected to Southeast Asia, prompting several countries in the region to tighten import regulations.

The European Union recently outlawed exports of many plastic waste materials to non-members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, and the UK has faced pressure to follow suit.

The fallout has meant that Turkey, a member of the OECD, is now the leading destination for European plastic waste, which has risen almost 200 fold on 2004 levels, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.

At the recent evidence session, waste industry leaders urged DEFRA to consider a total ban on plastic waste exports, and not just limit exports to OECD nations.

Forbes said environmental damage from the plastic waste trade highlights the need for the UN treaty.

"The plastic crisis is a global crisis, because plastic supply chains are global and because pollution crosses international borders via the waste trade and the ocean," he said.

"That's why we welcome this development and we will incessantly push for the adoption of a plastics treaty that matches the scale of the crisis."