Plastics treaty fails
- Tom Vermolen
- Sep 1
- 3 min read
The plastics treaty negotiations end in utter failure!
The production, use, and decay (or lack thereof) of plastics is poisoning our planet, our oceans, our food, and even our bodies! The goal of the latest UN plastics treaty meeting (INC-5.2) in Geneva was to arrive at the first legally binding treaty to reduce plastic pollution. The result of the talks was NO TREATY, an abysmal outcome, where the UN had the audacity to let polluters win… again.
Countries that chose profit over people and planet include, but are not limited to:
China
Egypt
Iran
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Malaysia
Qatar
Russia
Saudi Arabia
United States
The representatives from these countries should be ashamed of themselves, willing contributors to the 6th mass extinction. Not caring, even for their own children, as they burden them with the consequences of their unsustainable choices. These countries chose profits, profits for the oil industry, profits for the plastics industry. They say they want to focus on waste management and recycling. But who will end up paying for it? You and I, of course.
What the UN plastics treaty meeting needs are determined international climate scientists who understand the climate crisis and have solutions for solving it; clean energy experts, economists, educators and career officials in science and public policy; climate solutions-dedicated organizations; creative youth; and young and upcoming elected officials dedicated to ensuring a healthy and safe future…
…not the 234 lobbyists from the oil, petrochemical, and plastics industries.
The group of 234! lobbyists attending this meeting greatly outstrips any other group attending the meeting. The total number of countries present is 184. These lobbyists have been observed obstructing the treaty talks and blocking negotiations. They once again opened their usual playbook of deny, distract and/or derail.
The UN is not free of blame
Despite the UN claiming to have done their best in their own narrative, they could have done much better! First off by not inviting lobbyists from the petro-chemical industry. By sending so many (234) invitations to the oil, petrochemical, and plastics industries, it seems the UN favors the worst outcome. The UN decision-making process resembles an auction house, but where the lowest bidder wins, enabling polluters to keep polluting and profiting, making the least responsible and most affected peoples and nations pay for the damage.
The participating countries are not free of blame
Some 100 countries sought a more ambitious treaty, calling for the adoption of legally binding measures to limit plastic production in order to address plastic pollution at the source. Plans also included developing alternatives for plastics and clean-up of the already massive amount of plastic waste. These countries failed by allowing petro states to draft the treaty instead of writing it themselves. They do not need polluting countries and corporations to reduce plastics, we can make plastics producers produce less by not buying their toxic mess! The “better” countries could have written the draft text for the treaty, rather than waiting for petro states to do so.
For many, the outcome of the UN treaty is a real blow:
The representative from Tuvalu stated, “For our islands this means that without global cooperation and state action, millions of tonnes of plastic waste will continue to be dumped in our oceans, affecting our ecosystem, food security, livelihood and culture.”
The representative from Micronesia stated, “What might have collapsed is not so much the talks but the logic of continuing or concluding them in a forum with dedicated obstructionists.”
We are disappointed by the outcome of the UN plastics treaty meeting.
But we are even more determined to continue our fight for our future, towards a planet we do want to see.
