New push to reach plastic pollution pact
PARIS (AFP)Negotiators will take another stab at reaching a global pact on plastic pollution at talks opening Tuesday in Geneva but face deep divisions over how to tackle the health and ecological hazard.The coming 10 days of talks involving delegates from nearly 180 nations follows a failure to reach a deal last December on how to stop millions of tons of plastic waste entering the environment each year.Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peak, in the deepest ocean trench, and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body.In 2022, countries agreed they would find a way to address the crisis by the end of 2024, but the talks in Busan, South Korea failed to overcome fundamental differences.The stakes are high. If nothing is done, global plastic consumption could triple by 2060, according to OECD projections.Meanwhile, plastic waste in soils and waterways is expected to surge 50 percent by 2040, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which is acting as the secretariat for the talks.Some 460 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is single-use. And less than 10 percent of plastic waste is recycled.Plastics break down into bits so small that not only do they find their way throughout the ecosystem but into human blood and organs, recent studies show, with largely unknown consequences on the health of current and future generations.Despite the complexity of trying to reconcile the diverging interests of the environment, human health, and industry 'it's very possible to leave Geneva with a treaty,' UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen told the press in the runup to the talks.The text published after the failed talks in South Korea contained 300 points that still needed to be resolved.The most divisive issue is whether to restrict production of new plastic, alongside a move to establish a list of chemicals considered dangerous, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a family of synthetic chemicals often called forever chemicals as they take an extremely long time to break down.
In Nice in June, at the UN Oceans Conference, 96 countries, ranging from tiny island states to Zimbabwe, including the 27 members of the European Union, Mexico and Senegal, called for an ambitious treaty, including a target to reduce the production and consumption of plastics.
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