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Securing essential measures for a global treaty to end plastic pollution

4 measures to end the global plastic crisis

As world leaders prepare for the fifth and final negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution (INC-5), the urgency of the situation is clear: plastic pollution continues to ravage our planet, destroying ecosystems and wildlife populations, fueling climate change and infiltrating our bodies through the air we breathe and the food and water we consume. Since the start of the negotiations alone, nearly 20 million tons of plastics have entered our ocean.

The international community must keep the promise it made to end the plastic crisis. The upcoming negotiations must be the moment our leaders decide on bold, binding global actions across the entire plastic lifecycle to protect nature and human health and put our planet on a path to recovery. If they fail to do so, they will be shrinking from their responsibility to the planet, their citizens, and the long-term prosperity of societies, in favor of short-term gains and industry interests.

To ensure that world leaders deliver the treaty that people and nature need, WWF has identified four must-haves that—as a starting point—states must secure at the final negotiations. As a priority, states must pursue:

Global bans and phase-outs of the most harmful plastics and chemicals of concern
Binding global product design requirements and systems for a non-toxic circular economy
Aligned financial flows and resources for systems change
Mechanisms to strengthen and adapt measures over time

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A Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution that People and Nature Need

Read WWF’s paper on securing essential measures at INC-5.

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Explore the four must-haves for a successful plastic treaty

1Global bans on harmful plastics and chemicals of concern

As a starting point, the treaty must include binding, global bans and phase-outs of problematic and avoidable plastic products and chemicals of concern.

Single-use plastic products—many of which may be harmful to human health and/or difficult to recycle—account for 60% of global plastic production and 70% of ocean pollution and must be urgently tackled.

Countries must agree to global, science-based criteria which include:

Plastic products that have a very high likelihood of ending up in the environment, do not have a place in a non-toxic circular economy, may cause the most severe harm as pollutants, and can be feasibly eliminated.

Chemicals in plastic production and products are known for their potential to cause severe harm to living organisms. They could be carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic, endocrine disruptors, or producing significant toxicity following repeated exposure (amongst other criteria, including the substance’s persistence, bioaccumulation, and mobility).

The treaty must also include lists and specific phaseout timelines and targets, as well as transparency and disclosure requirements, to ensure the complete elimination of these harmful plastics and chemicals from the plastic value chain.

What is circularity?

Circularity means using plastics (or any resource) more efficiently by keeping the material in use for as long as possible, getting the most we can from the material during its use, and then recovering it to make new products.

2Establish a non-toxic circular economy

The treaty must establish binding, global requirements on product design and performance and have a dedicated focus on setting up new systems to ensure the reduction, reuse, and safe recycling for the remaining plastics.

Establishing harmonized global product design requirements and systems will:

Provide clear and consistent guidelines and a level playing field and regulatory certainty for businesses
Optimize material efficiency and significantly displace single-use items, making it more feasible to phase out single-use plastics and lower pollution rates.

As a starting point, the measures should target products that are consumed in high volumes, likely to become pollution and cause more harm due to their design (e.g. beverage bottles and food containers). Initial requirements and guidelines should focus on priority plastic products’ reusability and recyclability, on recycled plastics, and on setting up essential systems to create a circular economy such as reuse systems and extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes.

Beyond the treaty’s adoption, governments must strengthen this measure through tailored and sector-specific criteria for priority industries that contribute to plastic pollution: packaging, fisheries and aquaculture, agriculture, textiles, and transport.

3Aligned financial flows and resources for systems change

The treaty must include a comprehensive finance package that leverages all available sources and aligns both public and private financial flows with the objectives of the treaty and the implementation of its measures.

This package will ensure predictable, adequate, fair and accessible financial support for all countries to effectively implement the treaty. The financial resources needed are considerable, but the costs of inaction are far greater, especially for low-income countries.

Achieving the treaty’s goal of ending plastic pollution demands mobilizing and distributing additional financial resources—especially for implementation in developing countries—to reduce plastic pollution and also stopping harmful financial flows that contribute to plastic pollution.

To maximize the impact of any financial support, while also enhancing the technical and technological capabilities of all countries, the treaty should secure non-financial resources to enable effective implementation, particularly through technology transfer, capacity building, sharing best practices, training programs and fostering international cooperation.

4Mechanisms to strengthen and adapt measures over time

We must future-proof the treaty through mechanisms that allow for the strengthening of control and implementation measures beyond its adoption.

The current set of proposed priority measures provides a sound basis for global action; but to end plastic pollution, countries must progressively expand and dial up their efforts over time.

To identify areas for improvement, the treaty must include requirements for data collection, transparent reporting mechanisms and regular assessments to track progress. It also needs mechanisms that allow for experts to make technical recommendations, based on sound scientific evidence and emerging knowledge and technologies.

To make additions and amendments to the treaty, it must include provisions specifying how parties make decisions, such as allowing for voting in cases where consensus cannot be reached.

A transition to a robust non-toxic circular economy that is aligned with planetary boundaries will incentivize the retention of materials in the economy and reduce the demand for single-use plastic products. To deliver on this goal in the long run, we need measures which address the full life cycle of plastic including the supply and demand for primary plastic production.