SOME of the world’s largest brands have called for the creation of an international pact to address plastic pollution at the resumed session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2).
The likes of Coca-Cola, Mars, PepsiCo, Ikea, Nestlé and Walmart are behind the calls for a holistic approach to stopping plastic pollution that would also see the creation of a circular economy.
In a joint statement, signed by over 70 brands, the group called for a UN treaty on plastic pollution, with an intergovernmental negotiation committee requested to be established at UNEA 5.2 to develop an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution that:
“Includes both upstream and downstream policies, aiming to: keep plastics in the economy and out of the environment, reduce virgin plastic production and use, and decouple plastic production from the consumption of fossil resources
“Sets a clear direction to align governments, businesses and civil society behind a common understanding of the causes of plastic pollution and a shared approach to address them. For companies and investors, this creates a level playing field and prevents a patchwork of disconnected solutions, while setting the right enabling conditions to make a circular economy work in practice and at scale
“Provides a robust governance structure to ensure countries’ participation and compliance, with common definitions as well as harmonised standards applicable to all. This facilitates investments to scale innovations, infrastructures, and skills in the countries and industries most in need of international support.”
The statement concludes by saying that we are at a ‘critical’ point in time to establish a UN treaty that fosters collaboration for systemic solution and speeds up the transition to a circular economy globally.
