Global Plastic Pollution Control Has Entered A New Stage

Plastic production has soared from 2 million tons in 1950 to 348 million tons in 2017, making it a $522.6 billion global industry that is expected to double in capacity by 2040.

The production, use and improper disposal of plastics are already having a devastating impact on the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity and pollution. In the wake of the novel Coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, the use of protective equipment (e.g. masks, protective suits, etc.), single-use plastics, etc., has greatly increased the production of plastic waste.

Background on global plastic pollution

At present, plastic pollution problems in the world mainly include Marine garbage and microplastic pollution. The mass production and use of disposable plastic products make plastic pollution more and more serious.

Microplastics refer to plastic fragments with a diameter of less than 5 mm, which are the environmental trend of plastics and the target pollutants of plastic prevention and treatment. As early as 2004, Thompson et al from Plymouth University put forward the concept of "microplastics" in Science magazine for the first time, and people gradually began to pay attention to the problem of microplastics in the ocean. Ordinary plastics often do not degrade to the molecular level, but can break down in the natural environment, creating plastic fragments and even microplastics. Some plastic products, such as cosmetics, use plastic beads as dispersants, and these beads are also important sources of microplastics in water. In addition, additives in plastic products, some of which are chemicals with toxic and harmful effects, will also be released in the natural environment, eventually causing water and soil pollution. These flow into rivers and oceans and decompose into even smaller particles, causing Marine microplastic pollution, which has a serious impact on the Marine ecological environment. Microplastics can also accumulate in humans after they eat fish contaminated with them and produce harmful effects.

Global plastic governance is to promote the implementation of various governance measures through the relevant international conventions of the United Nations. Through the UN member states and international Non-Governmental organizations to create an atmosphere, by the UN or specialized agency platform to gradually implement the new plastics convention to promote and formulate the process.

In October 2015, the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development proposed in the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development, in which the 14th goal -- "Protection and sustainable use of oceans and Marine resources for sustainable development" calls for the prevention and substantial reduction of all types of Marine pollution by 2025. Pollution from land-based activities, in particular, provides a clear overall target for addressing Marine litter and microplastics, while SDGS 6, 11 and 12 are all related to microplastics in the ocean.

Supported by the further strengthening of the scientific and technological background of the United Nations Environment Assembly, the topic of Marine plastic pollution appeared for the first time in the resolution of the 71st Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in July 2017 -- "Our Oceans, Our Future: Call for action, and put forward to promote the prevention of waste and waste reduction as far as possible, sustainable consumption and production mode, adopting a three-pronged approach: reduce, reuse and recycling, including to encourage market based solutions and reduce waste, improve the environmentally sound waste management and disposal and recycling mechanism, development alternatives, such as can be reused or recycled products, Or biodegradable products under natural conditions.

Throughout the United Nations Environment Assembly on the global plastic governance issues of the resolution, the importance of plastic pollution is gradually increasing. The issue of plastic pollution has experienced from the United Nations Environment Conference to the United Nations General Assembly, then discussed in the United Nations Environment Conference, and then in the scope of consideration of the United Nations General Assembly, showing a bottom-up, from top to bottom.

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Process under the United Nations Environment Assembly

The main driving force for global plastic pollution control is the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), whose Secretariat, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), is the main decision-making platform for stakeholders to collaborate in addressing global plastic pollution. In February 2014, the United Nations environment programme (unep) organization held its first United Nations conference on environment, the assembly adopted the "I / 6 on ocean and the resolution of the micro plastic garbage", to recognize the source of the problem of micro plastic, characteristics, influence and should take timely response, stressed the importance of the precautionary principle and the harm of improper handling or measures are not taken.

In May 2016, the Second Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted Resolution II/11 on Marine Debris and Microplastics, guided by the overall goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, recognizing the seriousness of the problem, the need for a global response based on a product life cycle approach, and the need to consider regional differences.

In December 2017, the Third SESSION of the United Nations Environment Conference adopted resolution III/7 on Marine Garbage and Microplastics, in accordance with the main principles of the GENERAL Assembly resolution and with further consideration for detailed implementation, and decided to convene an AD hoc open-ended expert group meeting if resources are available. Further review of barriers and options for managing Marine plastic waste and microplastics from all sources, particularly land-based sources. It also calls for attention to the impact of production and consumption patterns on behaviour and urges countries to reduce unnecessary production and use of plastics and fulfil their autonomous commitments. This helped shift the focus of the 72nd (2017), 73rd (2018) and 74th (2019) SESSIONS of the UN General Assembly from the formulation of macro ideas to the implementation of concrete actions, with resolutions in Harmony with Nature reaffirming the importance of fundamental changes in the way societies produce and consume to achieve sustainable global development. And that all countries should promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production.

In March 2019, the Fourth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly produced two resolutions on global plastic governance for the first time, adopting resolution IV/6 on Marine litter and microplastics and RESOLUTION IV/9 on single-use plastics. IV/6 Decides to extend the mandate of the AD Hoc Open-ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and microplastics established by UNEA-3 to UNEA-5. The decision on single-use plastics was specifically added in recognition that a very small percentage of single-use plastics produced is recycled and that most of the plastic ends up in landfills, dumps and the environment. The resolution encourages innovative approaches to the prevention and control of plastic pollution from a life-cycle perspective, such as the introduction of extended producer responsibility systems and deposit refund schemes. On December 21, 2020, the 75th United Nations general assembly resolution passed "on the basis of < > in the 21st century agenda through sustainable consumption and production methods such as execution of < 2030 > on the agenda of sustainable development, also involved in the topic of Marine waste, plastic and plastic, and acknowledged that plastic waste and the link between sustainable consumption and production mode, Encourage further efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle plastics; In view of the small proportion of single-use plastic products recycled in the fourth Session of the United Nations Environment Conference, management countermeasures were put forward and innovative methods were adopted to deal with all kinds of plastic waste including Marine plastic waste.

The fifth resumed Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, held from 28 February to 2 March 2022, adopted the resolution "Ending Plastic Pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument". The need for further international action to develop a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution in the Marine environment was stressed. And requested the Executive Director to convene an intergovernmental negotiating Committee to begin its work in the second half of 2022, with the goal of completing its work by the end of 2024. The new international instrument focused on capacity-building as well as technical and financial assistance and stressed that it was based on an integrated approach to the full life cycle of plastics, which could include both binding and voluntary approaches. In addition, the resolutions of previous United Nations Environment congresses also highlighted efforts to promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics and progress in the implementation of periodic assessment instruments.

The United Nations Environment Assembly has made great achievements in the field of global plastic governance. Inger Andersen, executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), expressed deep expectations for the future development of the new plastics Convention at the fifth SESSION of the UN Environment Assembly. She told the conference that it would be the most important international multilateral environmental treaty since the Paris Agreement.

Standard compilation and construction of digital traceability system for Marine Plastic Recycling and Recycling Traceability Evaluation Requirements and Post-Consumption Recycled Plastics (PCR) Traceability Evaluation Requirements organized by CPRRA Technical Committee for Marine Pollution Prevention and Control have been in full progress:

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Process under international multilateral environmental agreements

The existing multilateral environmental agreements related to global plastic governance mainly include the following three: Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (hereinafter referred to as Basel Convention), which aims to control the transnational trade of plastic wastes and promote environmentally sound disposal; An international convention administered by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is mainly responsible for the management of plastic waste related to shipping to prevent Marine pollution; The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (HEREINAFTER referred to as the Stockholm Convention) aims to protect human health from plastics, focusing on microplastics or additives in plastics, as well as pollution prevention and control of environmentally persistent plastics. However, none of the main objectives of these conventions directly address the global plastic pollution problem, and there is still a lack of international agreements to address plastic pollution systematically.

As early as December 1972, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution caused by Dumping of Wastes and Other Substances (also known as the 1972 London Convention) was signed under the framework of the IMO. The three annexes to the Convention regulate, respectively, substances that are prohibited from being dumped into the sea, substances that require a special permit and substances that require a general permit to be dumped. On this basis, the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Dumping of Wastes and Other Substances of November 1996 has tightened the rules on substances permitted to be dumped, namely, only substances explicitly listed in the Annex are allowed to be dumped and substances not listed are prohibited. In addition, in November 1973, imo formulated the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships based on the 1954 International Convention on Maritime Oil Pollution, annexes III and V of which both provided provisions for the prevention of Marine plastic pollution. In addition, in the annex of the 2016 amendment, there are further provisions and requirements on the classification, discharge and recording of ship wastes, and a "garbage record book" has been established for inspection and supervision. In October 2018, THE IMO adopted the Action Plan on Tackling Marine Plastic Waste from Ships to take measures to reduce Marine plastic pollution from ships.

The revision of the annex to the Basel Convention in May 2019 is a milestone event in global plastic governance, which marks the emergence of management content specifically targeted at plastic waste through international law. The Basel Convention includes the vast majority of plastic waste, including non-recyclable and contaminated plastic waste, within the control of the Convention, namely annexes II and VIII, and the small amount of pure plastic waste listed in Annex IX increases the requirement for environmentally sound recycling.

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Processes of other international organizations

Since 2018, WWF has launched its "No Plastic in Nature" project worldwide. After more than three years of global practice, WWF has been convinced that a new legally binding global convention is the most effective way to tackle Plastic pollution in the oceans. Its released in February 2022 the plastic pollution impact on biodiversity, the report also pointed out that if not now take global action to reduce plastic production and use, Marine plastic pollution will increase four times in 2050, held in March 2022 the fifth session of the United Nations conference on environment deposited atmosphere rendering has played an important promoting role.

In April 2019, the Nordic Ministerial Declaration called for a global agreement to combat plastic waste and microplastics in the ocean, which encouraged "interested actors to join the call for a new global agreement and actively participate in the AD hoc open-ended expert group established by the UN Environment Assembly". In July of that year, the St. John's Declaration of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) "underscored the urgent need for a global agreement to address plastic and microplastic pollution". The Durban Declaration on Action for Environmental Sustainability and Prosperity in Africa, adopted at the 17th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in November, stated that "We are committed to supporting global action to address plastic pollution, which requires further work to engage more effectively in global governance matters related to plastic pollution, Including options to strengthen existing agreements and a new global agreement on plastic pollution ".

In March 2020, the new EU Circular economy Action Plan states that "the European Commission will lead efforts at the international level to conclude a global plastics convention and promote a circular economy approach to plastics in the EU".

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Global plastic pollution control hot spot

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Positioning of plastic conventions

In September 2021, Peru and Rwanda, together with more than 30 countries, submitted a proposal for a legally binding International Instrument on Plastic Pollution to the United Nations Environment Assembly, suggesting that an intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) be launched to form a legally binding international instrument from the perspective of the whole life cycle management of plastics. In October 2021, Japan submitted a proposal for an international legal instrument on Marine plastic Pollution, suggesting that the scope of the instrument be limited to the management of Marine plastic pollution. In January 2022, India submitted a proposal on a Framework for Addressing pollution from Plastics, including single-use plastics, suggesting that the issue of plastic pollution should be focused on the voluntary actions of member states and complemented by voluntary actions of the international community. This issue was discussed in detail at the fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly. Although under the strong insistence of dozens of countries and regions such as the European Union, the meeting finally approved the decision to launch INC, but the purpose and focus of the convention will still be the focus of the subsequent discussion.

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Determination of the nature of plastics convention

The fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly discussed the nature of the proposed convention, namely, the legally binding aspects of the Convention. Whether the new treaty should be legally binding, voluntary like the Paris agreement, or a combination of both.

Russia has objected to a US suggestion that the INTERGOVERNMENTAL Negotiating Committee consider "legally binding and non-binding commitments" when formulating legally binding international instruments. The EU prefers "provisions" to replace commitments, and has the support of the US, Brazil and Chile. Peru proposes to use the agreed language of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which "could include legally binding and non-legally binding provisions", Received the support of a majority of countries. Although the member states have reached broad agreement on the principle that the new convention should be legally binding and non-binding, how to arrange the various mechanisms is indeed another focus of the future negotiations.

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Determination of the scope of the plastics Convention

With regard to the purpose and scope of the new Plastics Convention, the Alliance of Small Island States and the African Group, with the support of the European Union, recommended that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee develop a Including in the Marine environment "(Plastic pollution, including in the Marine Environment) There were also countries that preferred to let the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee determine its own scope, requesting the deletion of "included in the Marine environment". Agreed to the working group, the intergovernmental negotiating committee will develop a "about the plastic pollution, including the Marine environment" of plastic pollution legally binding international instrument, including binding and voluntary method, at the same time, considering the principle of the Rio declaration will be on the basis of the entire life cycle of synthesis method solve the problem of plastic.

conclusion

The fifth session of the United Nations conference on environment through the resolution on the establishment of the INC is historic, is also encouraging, predictable is a legally binding multilateral environmental treaty will come true in the near future, it embodies the cognitive progress in recent years and the push of different international organizations and countries. Global plastic governance is undergoing a gradual improvement process from concept and policy proposal to implementation action proposal and then to a special agreement, which also represents the common vision of global collaborative governance and the pursuit and expectation of "towards a pollution-free planet".

Of course, in this process, we also hope that the new Plastics Convention "stays true to its original aspiration" and focuses on the plastic problems identified in the UNEA-1 resolution on Marine Garbage and Microplastics and its subsequent resolutions, so as to contribute to the solution of global environmental problems. The new convention should also avoid diverting the international community by kidnapping it under the pretext of "public opinion", focus on economic and development issues, and establish new "trade barriers" and "technical barriers". The new convention should also make full use of existing international multilateral environmental agreements and take a multi-pronged approach to effectively address the issue of Marine garbage and microplastics.