For the first time, negotiators from most of the world’s nations are discussing the text of what is supposed to be a global treaty to end plastic pollution.
Delegates and observers at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution called it a welcome sign that talks have moved from ideas to treaty language at this fourth of five scheduled plastics summits.
The most controversial thing is the idea of limiting the amount of plastic manufactured worldwide. Currently, that remains in the text despite strong objections from plastic-producing countries and companies and oil and gas exporters. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels and chemicals.
The Ottawa session was scheduled to end Monday night or early Tuesday. On Monday night there could be an intense debate on whether this issue of plastic production is a central topic for the working groups before the next and final meeting.
Stewart Harris, industry spokesperson for the International Council of Chemical Associations, said members want a treaty that focuses on plastic recycling and reuse, sometimes called “circularity.”
“We want the treaty to be completed,” Harris said. “We want to work with governments to implement it. “The private sector has a role to play.”
Dozens of scientists from the Coalition of Scientists for an Effective Plastics Treaty attended the meeting to provide scientific evidence on plastic pollution to negotiators, in part, they said, to dispel misinformation.
“Yesterday I heard that there is no data on microplastics, which is verifiably false: 21,000 publications have been published on micro- and nanoplastics,” said Bethanie Carney Almroth, a professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who co-leads the coalition. “It’s like Whac-A-Mole.”
He said lobbyists were harassing and intimidating scientists and reported to the UN that a lobbyist yelled in his face at a meeting.
Despite their differences, the countries represented share a common vision to advance the treaty process, said Ecuador’s chief negotiator, Walter Schuldt.
“Because at the end of the day, we are talking about the survival of the future of life, not just human life but all life on this planet,” he said in an interview.
He said he was proud to participate, to contribute his “grain of sand” to global action to address an environmental crisis.
Negotiators aim to conclude a treaty by the end of 2024. Topics assigned to expert working groups tonight will advance to the final round of talks to be held in the fall in South Korea.
Without this preparatory work between meetings, it would be daunting to complete negotiations this year. Several countries said Sunday night that they are committed to working between meetings.
Talks on the treaty began in Uruguay in December 2022 after Rwanda and Peru proposed the resolution that started the process in March 2022.
Progress was slow during talks in Paris in May 2023 and in Nairobi in November as countries debated the rules for the process.
As thousands of negotiators and observers arrived in Ottawa, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, president of Ecuador’s committee, reminded them of their purpose and asked them to be ambitious.
“The world is counting on us to achieve a new treaty that catalyzes and guides the actions and international cooperation necessary to achieve a future free of plastic pollution,” he said. “Let’s not fail them.”
Delegates have been discussing not only the scope of the treaty, but also chemicals of concern, problematic and avoidable plastics, product design, and financing and implementation.
Delegates also simplified the difficult collection of options that emerged from the last meeting.
Many traveled to Ottawa from communities affected by pollution and plastic manufacturing. Louisiana and Texas residents who live near petrochemical plants and refineries handed out postcards addressed to the U.S. State Department that read, “I wish you were here.”
They traveled together as a group from the Break Free from Plastic movement and asked negotiators to visit their states to experience air and water pollution firsthand.
“This remains the best option we have to see change in our communities. They are so captured by corporations. I can’t go to parish government,” said Jo Banner of St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana. “I feel like this is the only opportunity and hope I have to help my community fix this, to heal.”
Members of a group of indigenous peoples held a news conference Saturday to say that microplastics are contaminating their food supply and that the contamination threatens their communities and the ways of life they are guaranteed in perpetuity. They felt that their voices were not heard.
“We have a lot at stake. “These are our ancestral lands that are being polluted with plastic,” said Juressa Lee from New Zealand after the event. “We are rights holders, not interested parties. “We should have more space to speak and make decisions than the people who cause the problem.”
Traditionally there was no plastic, but now in the Bay of Plenty, its source of shellfish, the sediment and shellfish are full of small plastic particles. They view nature’s “resources” as treasures, Lee added.
“Indigenous customs can lead the way,” Lee said. “What we are doing now is clearly not working.”
Vi Waghiyi traveled from Alaska to represent the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. She reminds decision makers that this treaty must protect people from plastic pollution for generations to come.
She said: “We came here to be the conscience, to ensure that the right decision is made for all people.”