Can we end plastic pollution? Negotiators land in Ottawa this week to work on a global treaty

A key week of negotiations begins on Tuesday, as representatives from 176 countries descend on Ottawa to tackle the global challenges posed by plastics.

The fourth and penultimate part of the talks lead to a final session later this year in Korea, where the parties hope to sign a binding international treaty on plastic pollution.

“This process is truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity to end plastic pollution. It's a historic process,” said Eirik Lindebjerg, head of global plastic policy at the World Wildlife Fund.

To date, negotiations have reached one 69 page large draft.Negotiators will now work to whittle that text down to a list of core issues. Success in this will be key to reaching a global treaty at the final session.

In the opening lines of the draft, the parties agree that “rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious environmental problem on a global scale”.

But the point of tension is whether plastics production or waste management should be the focus of the deal, with conflicting interests slowing negotiations to date.

“Ottaware should be a tipping point,” said Graham Forbes, head of the global plastics project at Greenpeace. “We are at a new juncture for global plastics treaty negotiations.”

Plastic is everywhere

Plastic waste is a ubiquitous global problem, with seven billion tons of synthetic material generated globally since the 1950s, according to the United Nations Environment Program, with about 98 percent of single-use plastics produced directly from fossil fuels, rather than recycled materials.

The OECD estimates that only nine percent of plastic created is ever recycled.

Most of it ends up in landfills, some is burned and other plastic pollution ends up in rivers, lakes and oceans. Trillions of pieces of plastic are harming marine ecosystems, entangling some creatures and being eaten by others. Scientists estimate that most seabirds now have plastic in their guts.

“Plastic pollution is driving what we call a triple planetary crisis,” said Forbes. “It is accelerating climate change, destroying biodiversity and threatening to pollute every corner of our planet, including the human body.”

Over their life cycle, the OECD estimates that plastics account for about 3.4 percent of emissions, making them what it calls a significant contributor to rising global temperatures.

of UNEP assessments that, without action, nearly one-fifth of the world's shrinkage carbon budget Emissions allowances to keep warming below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels will be taken from the production and use of plastics by 2040.

Previous negotiations failed

While it is not clear what form a global plastics treaty might take, a 2022 Ipsossurvey suggests there is public appetite to do something.

In the poll, conducted online in 28 countries, 75 percent of people polled want to see a ban on single-use plastics as soon as possible, and most supported an international treaty to combat plastic pollution.

A core group of 60 countries, including Canada, have taken this ambition a step further by creating Coalition of High Ambitions to End Plastic Pollutionand aiming to end plastic pollution by 2040.

But international agreements are complex and previous sessions in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Paris and Nairobi are widely considered to have failed.

“We see in these negotiations that industry associations, from oil and gas and from the petrochemical sector, are very active and are often pushing against global enforcement actions,” Lindebjerg said.

“The fossil fuel industry is using plastic as a way to offset declines in energy and transportation as the world moves toward a carbon- and fossil-fuel-free future. And they're just flooding the world with plastic,” Forbes said.

The Canadian Chemical Industry Association, which represents plastics companies in Canada, says that's not the position of its members.

“I think all of islaser was focused on making sure it was done by the end of the year,” said the organization's vice-president of policy, Isabelle Des Chnes, in an interview with CBC News.

Curbing production and improving waste management

The industry is drawing attention to opportunities to improve reuse and recycling initiatives.

“There's a lot of plastic and there's a lot of plastic for a reason,” said Des Chnes. “It helps preserve our food […] it is really important in the transport phase”.

She hopes the treaty will address how to improve plastics.

“It really needs to look at the product design, how the products are developed, whether it's with recycled content, whether they're designed for reuse and resale, whether they're designed for recyclability.”

Other advocacy groups believe the treaty's emphasis should be on production.

“I think the worst-case scenario for Ottawa is that they take away options to address plastic production. We start creating a waste management treaty that throws good money after bad and perpetuates the illusion that we can recycle our way our way out of this,” Forbes said.

In reality, the proposed treaty aims to address both production and waste.

“There is a broad majority of countries that want to see a strong treaty, a treaty with common global rules throughout the life cycle of plastics.” said Lindebjerg.

INC-4, as the Canada-based session is called, is expected to host more than 4,200 participants, making it the most attended session since INC-1 negotiations began in Uruguay in November 2022.

The INC-4 will continue until April 29, with negotiators resuming talks for the fifth and final session in Busan, Republic of Korea in late November.

With files from Susan Ormiston and Sarah Bridge