2023-05-31 09:58:55
The Netherlands is one of a group of 56 countries that is calling in Paris this week to significantly limit the production of new plastic. For example, by setting a global production ceiling. Otherwise, the waste mountain cannot be combated in the coming decades, the countries say. The petrochemical industry is investing in factories to make more plastic, largely from fossil raw materials.
In the French Unesco office of the United Nations, diplomats from 175 countries are negotiating a treaty to end plastic pollution until Friday. “Plastic pollution is a time bomb,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the opening of the meeting week on Monday, referring to the damage to nature and human and animal health.
In twenty years, the annual production of plastic has doubled to 460 billion kilos. Less than 10 percent of that is recycled. The rest is incinerated, dumped or ends up as litter, also in the sea.
Plastic tap must be closed further
Last year, the UN countries voted in favor of a legally binding treaty to combat this gigantic pollution. That treaty must be ready next year and the details of it are now being negotiated. Greenpeace calls it ‘the most important global opportunity for people and planet to get rid of plastic’. But the environmental organization also sees that the level of ambition differs considerably per country.
The Netherlands sets the bar high and is therefore one of the so-called High Ambition Coalition. Just like other EU countries and for example Rwanda, Canada, Ecuador, Peru and Senegal. They want pollution to end by 2040. As a logo, this club uses a tap from which plastic flows – that tap must therefore be turned closer. You can also see the logo as a reference to the microplastics that pollute the water.
Plastic products must soon be reusable, refillable and easy to recycle, they say. Now 40 percent of all plastic is used once – disposable plastic. It’s simply too much. “The world cannot manage the resulting plastic waste in an environmentally friendly and safe way, which will result in more and more plastic ending up in the environment,” the coalition warns.
Recycling rather than limiting production
According to Greenpeace, the countries that are lowering the bar are the United States and Japan. They also want to tackle the pollution of the oceans, but they are less keen on production restrictions and hard rules. The US has a large chemical industry that produces plastic from oil.
The same goes for Saudi Arabia. That country says it wants to end pollution, but at the same time points out the importance of plastic for society. Saudi Arabia wants to invest in the chemical recycling of plastic, following which the molecules can be used once more. But that process takes a lot of energy and, according to environmental organizations, offers no real solution. Just because of the lack of capacity.
Greenpeace campaign leader Graham Forbes says Saudi Arabia and like-minded countries are deliberately delaying progress in the Paris talks by addressing procedures, not substance.
Just like at the climate summit, money also plays a role here. Poorer countries say they need financial support to develop the necessary infrastructure for recycling and waste management.
There is criticism among NGOs that the UN welcomes fossil companies to Paris to lobby. According to Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, executive secretary of the negotiating committee, this is not too bad. Of the 612 organizations present, only 40 parties represent the business community, she says. “The rest concerns civil society organizations that, for example, stand up for the environment, indigenous populations, young people and women.”
Read also:
Industry produces even more disposable plastic: already 17 kilos per inhabitant of the planet
The single-use plastic industry emits more greenhouse gases globally than the UK. Plastic recycling has not yet started on a large scale.
Compulsory with your own bag to the vegetable department: supermarkets are banning plastic
The largest supermarkets are banning disposable bags for fruit and vegetables. Reusable should increasingly become the norm. But will that work?
1685553167
#Netherlands #plastic #ceiling #production #increasing
