The fourth round of United Nations negotiations for a global plastics treaty in Ottawa concluded on April 30. Industry representatives and environmental groups are gathering ahead of the talks and sharing the latest perspectives and initiatives they're hoping are included in the treaty.
Assistant managing editor Steve Toloken covered the talks from start to finish. Here are some recaps of his stories and what's to come.
Latest, April 30: The latest round of a United Nations plastics treaty talks wrapped up April 30 with some signs of progress — countries agreed for the first time to hold key technical meetings between formal negotiations — but with significant differences still present, including over limits on plastic production.
A group of 29 nations, for example, launched a "Bridge to Busan" declaration ahead of the next and likely final round of talks in Busan, South Korea, in November. They say the treaty must include global limits or constraints to reach "sustainable" levels of plastic production.
But overall, countries in the final public session of the week-long negotiations that opened April 23 in Canada said repeatedly they were looking for compromise to move forward, even if the talks so far had not delivered all they wanted. Read more on the fourth round of talks on the plastics treaty.
April 25: A fee of $60 to $90 per metric ton on plastic resin could help implement the plastics treaty and close financing gaps in developing countries, according to a new report from the Minderoo Foundation.
The report, discussed during an official panel on April 24 at the United Nations plastics treaty talks, for the first time puts substantial details behind a fee proposal that some countries have been pushing in the negotiations.
A Minderoo representative said the fee, which it estimates at 5-7 percent of the cost of polymers, would partly answer a problem common to global environmental agreements: how to pay for them. The report used U.S. dollars in its calculations. Read more about how the $90 resin fee could support plastic treaty goals
April 25 9 a.m.: As protesters maintained a vigil outside the United Nations plastics treaty negotiating venue in Ottawa this week, one industry group was inside a nearby hotel ballroom with its own efforts to reach diplomats, an exhibition showing potential solutions to recycling and waste challenges.
The Alliance to End Plastics Waste organized a fair it called "Circularity in Action: Solutions for Change," with about 40 exhibits from companies and industry groups highlighting efforts they say can address environmental challenges.
The head of one industry trade group said the AEPW exhibition is part of larger communications efforts from plastics companies at this round of the talks, which are called meetings of the intergovernmental negotiating committee [INC].
"I think particularly compared to prior INCs, we're really communicating well," said Ross Eisenberg, the head of plastics within the American Chemistry Council. "For groups like AEPW, the fact that they wanted to come here and do this, is a great sign. It's time to be talking about those solutions." Read more about the industry lobbies and treaty negotiators
April 24: The first-ever Congressional delegation to the United Nations' plastics treaty talks came hoping to pressure President Joe Biden's administration to take stronger positions in the negotiations, arguing that moves from the U.S. could help break a policy logjam.
The group of five Democratic lawmakers came to the negotiations in Ottawa, which formally opened April 23, saying the U.S. needs to support stronger global rules while pushing back on administration claims that the U.S. negotiating position is limited by domestic laws.
Also in this update:
Read more on what the US Congressional delegation wanted at the talks
Latest update, April 23: As the United Nations plastics treaty talks enter a critical phase, resin industry executives are increasing their presence in hopes that the agreement, in their view, can provide the certainty companies need to make the investments needed for a greener future.
"If we end up with an agreement that can move us forward — reducing plastics pollution and creating circularity — it allows us to accelerate our business model," said Mark Nikolich, executive vice president, North America, for Braskem. "All the things that we want to invest in ... will accelerate if we have this agreement because it gives us direction, it gives us some certainty of path in the future."
A larger contingent of executives from the materials industry came to this round of treaty talks, which opened April 23 in Canada and included many side events in the days before. Read more on what resin makers want from treaty
Monday, April 22: The United States favors a plastics treaty that promotes moves to tackle pollution by improving recycling and putting obligations on all nations — among other steps — but an official also cautions countries to focus on an agreement that can win broad support globally.
The comments from U.S. Undersecretary of State Jose Fernandez on April 22 at the plastics treaty talks came as other nations and regional blocs outlined sometimes more ambitious and detailed priorities at a kickoff event. Click the image above or click here to read.
The debate over resin production caps is again surfacing in the plastics treaty talks as environmental groups and allied countries renew a push for them while plastics companies and other nations point to social and economic risks from blunt limits. Read here or click the image above
The plastics industry released a report April 20 highlighting its 30-year-old, voluntary program known as Operation Clean Sweep. Representatives also held a reception for diplomats on the sidelines of the negotiations in Ottawa focusing on changes companies have made in recent years to strengthen that program.
Environmental groups, for their part, have held two webinars recently to push for the treaty to require mandatory — not voluntary — controls. They're in Ottawa as well, arguing that voluntary programs are inadequate. Read here or click the image above
As the plastics treaty talks enter a key phase, industry groups are renewing calls for countries to consider the benefits of their materials and to reject actions like plastics taxes or overly strict regulation of chemical health risks.
A group of bottled water makers, for example, is telling the United Nations that PET bottles have lower environmental effects than other packaging types, even as they endorsed more regulation to improve recycling rates. Read here or click the image above
Some countries will be pushing for the plastics treaty to include a fee on plastics, potentially up to $100 a ton, to fund environmental cleanup and recycling, when the talks restart.
It's not clear if the agreement will ultimately include such fees, but a diplomat from Ghana made a case for them during an April 16 webinar to address how the treaty could raise the estimated $17 trillion needed to build infrastructure for waste management, recycling and plastic pollution cleanup worldwide. Read here or click the image above
Will politics drive compromise in the United Nations plastics treaty talks? That’s one of the topics that Steve Toloken covered in our April Plastics in Politics livestream.