2023-11-08 15:22:01
by Silvia Morosi
The environmental association calls on all governments to agree on a treaty with harmonized and binding global rules that can eliminate existing inequalities compared to the current plastic production and management system
«Who Pays for Plastic Pollution?», «Who pays for plastic pollution?». This is the title of the new report launched by the WWF and developed by Dalberg to raise awareness of the real cost of plastic for the environment, health and economy. The study finds that this cost can be up to 10 times higher for low-income countries, despite consuming almost three times less plastic per capita than high-income countries. In particular, the real total cost of a kilogram of plastic, considering its entire life cycle, is around $150 in low- and middle-income countries, a figure eight times higher than the $19 incurred by high-income countries. When comparing low-income countries alone to their wealthier counterparts, the cost difference rises to 10-fold, with low-income countries hit by costs of up to $200 per kilogram. The alarm sounds particularly relevant on the eve of the third negotiating meeting for a global treaty on plastic pollution which will be held from 13 to 19 November in Kenya. Just six years ago the African country took an important step against plastic pollution by banning single-use plastic bags. Today, the country continues to crack down on illegal imports of single-use plastic bags, highlighting the cross-border nature of the problem and the inequalities caused by the current plastic value chain.
Shocking news: In 20 years, global plastic waste doubled ?
And who is the most affected? Those who contributed the least.
Governments, champion a robust #GlobalPlasticsTreaty for people and the planet.
Help us make it happen: #INC3 pic.twitter.com/7nkft3X7GJ
— WWF (@WWF) November 8, 2023
The disproportionately greater costs that low- and middle-income countries bear are the direct result of three structural inequalities that reinforce the current system. The first inequality is that the system places low- and middle-income countries at a disadvantage, as they have minimal influence over what plastic materials are produced and how they are designed, but are often expected to handle these. products once they reach the end of their life cycle. Data up to 2019 shows that only 9% of plastic waste is recycled. Currently, around 60% of global plastic production is for single-use products, which are designed to be thrown away after just one use. The second inequality is that the rate of plastic production, particularly for single-use plastics, is far outpacing the technical and financial capabilities to manage waste as it reaches end-of-life in low- and middle-income countries. The third inequality is that the system lacks a fair way to hold countries and plastic-producing companies accountable for their actions, on plastic pollution and its impact on health, the environment and the economy (for example, through mandatory extended producer responsibility regimes in each of the countries in which they operate). In the absence of common obligations across all jurisdictions and for all companies to support a circular, fair and non-toxic plastic economy, low- and middle-income countries will always end up paying the highest price (here is the story of plastic island that could become a state).
«The report highlights the urgency of a review of the current plastic system. Business-as-usual could be a death sentence not only for a growing number of species victims of plastic, but also for many of the vulnerable and marginalized human communities of our planet, due to an increase in both health risks, due both to exposure to toxic chemical substances carried by plastic, and to actual “floods and storms” of plastic waste”, explains Eva Alessi, Sustainability manager of WWF Italy. The Global Treaty to Combat Plastic Pollution “is our chance to change this by including binding and fair global rules on its production and consumption.” The establishment and implementation of a United Nations Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution based on harmonized and binding global rules “can help us create a fairer system, which empowers low- and middle-income countries and prioritizes the most effective solutions and efficient,” she adds. An example could be «regulation of the highest risk plastic products, polymers and chemicals — those that can cause the most damage or are most likely to cause pollution — so that we can reduce the pressure on countries, in particularly those with fewer resources, in managing this waste.” Likewise, the opportunity to create global product design rules “can help ensure that products are designed to be reused and/or recycled regardless of where they are produced or used.”
? Plastic isn’t “cheap” – it comes at a high price for communities in vulnerable situations and the planet we call home.
? Decision-makers must act now to #StopPlasticPollution. Call on them to take action: #INC3 pic.twitter.com/pTWJuwRVtM
— WWF (@WWF) November 7, 2023
WWF calls on all governments to agree on a treaty that includes the ban, elimination or phase-out of high-risk and unnecessary plastic products, polymers and chemicals of concern. «Many of the options included in the first draft of the treaty have substantially weaker language and less specific obligations, making it tempting for governments to return to old bad habits of relying on national or voluntary actions rather than creating common regulations. But our report has shown that relying on the decisions of individual governments results in an unfair system in which burdens are not only distributed unequally, but are borne by those least equipped to remedy them,” concludes Alessi. “Compromising on a treaty based primarily on national action will put us back where we were: divided and unable to stem plastic pollution. We can no longer act as if plastic is a cheap disposable good. It has enormous costs for some of the most vulnerable communities who do not have the power to change the system.”
November 8, 2023 (modified November 8, 2023 | 3:09 pm)
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