The United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution has convened this week in Paris to try and institute a binding treaty to establish governance on plastic pollution.
Tense talks are expected to end with a draft text, following a commitment last year to develop a legal agreement by 2024.
Even for Thailand, plastics expert Sujitra Vassanadumrongdee said the strong presence of petrochemical industry representatives in Thailand’s delegation to Paris, and the exclusion of academic and NGO groups, showed the strong sway plastic producers still have and dictates the focus of plastic policies.
It proposes systemic changes, including ushering in a real circular economy with safety standards for disposing of non-recyclable waste and making manufacturers responsible for environmental microplastics that their products cause. Turning off the “plastic tap”, as the UN describes it, could be one of the most challenging aspects of negotiations, but also the most necessary, according to Faloutsos.
GWP and Chatham House cautioned in a paper released this week that the treaty mechanism would be no “silver bullet” to the issue. Rather, a raft of upstream and downstream policies would be required, as well as better data and investment in infrastructure. It is a bold and ambitious task that naturally has drawn the organisation to one of the main sources of plastic waste reaching the oceans in the first place - Asia’s rivers.
Interceptors are currently operational in the Klang River in Malaysia and in Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, while the organisation confirmed more should enter the water in the Cisadane River in Indonesia and Chao Phraya sometime in 2023. Meanwhile, the community on Koh Klang is already actively playing its small part to tackle the plastic problem on a local scale. Families are encouraged to sort waste and collect plastic around the island.
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