Kristyn Oldendorf
Plastic litter in the environment and waterways is now a global crisis. The final round of international negotiations on an agreement to end plastic pollution is underway, seeking commitments and solutions. The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is monitoring the talks and fostering conversations on what they could mean for North American waste and resource management.
A Global Push for a Legally Binding Agreement
What could an international treaty to prevent plastic pollution look like? That is the big question as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) meets in Geneva, Switzerland for the sixth session of its Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) with the goal to develop a legally binding agreement to prevent plastic pollution in the environment.
I recently attended INC-5.2 pre-events in Geneva on behalf of SWANA and met with key stakeholders, including representatives from the US and Canadian delegations. Tensions have been high on whether to include caps on plastic production, whether to phase out certain materials, how financing mechanisms will work, and how prescriptive the agreement should be, among other topics. Despite the disagreements, there is hope that an agreement will be reached this week.
What Came Before and Where are We Now
Every year聽聽of plastic waste leaks into aquatic ecosystems, causing pollution in waterbodies, according to the UN. In response to this crisis, the UN Environment Assembly in March of 2022 calling on the UNEP to convene an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee of country delegates to develop a comprehensive international approach to prevent plastic pollution, addressing the many stages of plastic production, design, and management.
Since late 2022, the negotiators from 180 countries have met multiple times, with the goal to reach an agreement by the end of 2024. INC-5 held in November of 2024 was intended to be the last round of negotiations but ended without consensus due to procedural delays and disagreements on agreement specifics, to the disappointment of many participating countries and outside stakeholders.
This led to the current extension of negotiations, INC-5.2 in Geneva. After INC-5 ended without an agreement as planned, there is some doubt going into INC-5.2 that this will be the final round, but many key stakeholders have expressed their desire to reach an agreement this round, and entered the week with optimism that an agreement could be reached. Now that the negotiations are further along, there is doubt as to whether this will be accomplished.
The INC is working from the document known as the , organized into 32 articles, each with a different area of focus on actions countries should take. Negotiators are working line-by-line through the text with the goal to reach a final agreement through consensus.
How May this Impact You?
While there is currently much uncertainty about the specifics of a final agreement, and differing opinions on how the strength of final commitments, the results will ultimately impact plastic materials flows and markets.
Language in the draft text covers aspects ranging from product design and banned materials to setting national recycling rate targets and promoting behavior change. Ultimately, the implementation of the treaty aspects will come down to the individuals and organizations that manage recycling communications, collections, and sorting, and those that provide the equipment, software, training and technology to do so.
The waste and resource management sector has a vital role in preventing plastic pollution, and will be eventually impacted by the treaty, but the sector is not always well-represented in these discussions compared to representatives from other stages of the plastic life cycle. In an effort to correct this imbalance, SWANA has actively participated to be a voice in the room, representing its members. SWANA is advocating for supporting collections and resource management domestically and internationally.
The week before INC-5.2,聽 in Washington, DC bringing together stakeholders to highlight the vital role of the waste and resource management industry. This built off of the聽聽SWANA held at INC-4 in collaboration with the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA). SWANA also the INC-5 negotiations. Discussions have shown that many North American successes could be enhanced and scaled with an enabling and supportive policy framework.
There are several aspects of the proposed treaty that may impact the waste and resource management sector. A few of these aspects are discussed here, and I encourage you to view the UN documents to learn more.
Product Design, Recycled Content, and Material Bans
Product Design includes decisions on material use, designing for recyclability and reusability, and other aspects to support a circular economy. 聽Harmonized product design regulations have been discussed as a way to add value to the plastics recycling industry and support recyclability.
Many stakeholders have expressed support for commitments to increase the use of recycled content, which is sometimes discussed as an alternative to production caps. Many major brands already have voluntary commitments to use recycled content, and have made design commitments through initiatives like the US Plastics Pact and Canada Plastics Pact. Some of these companies prefer a national and even international agreement to help level the playing field, with all brands required to meet the same recycled content commitments. This may also help even out the cost of recycled content. Some of the pre-events leading into INC-5.2 discussed the role of recycled content use serving as a solution. There has also been concern that imported material that claims to be recycled plastic is often cheaper than the domestic supply of recycled plastic, undercutting the domestic market. There are calls for increased transparency to determine whether plastic material that claims to be recycled actually is.
The Chair鈥檚 Text calls on countries to take steps to foster development to increase 鈥渦se of sustainable and safer alternatives and nonplastic substitutes.鈥� One of the INC-5.2 pre-event panel discussions focused on opportunities for materials that could serve as alternatives to plastic, including bioplastics (PHA), and even materials made from algae and mollusk shells. While these materials have shown great potential in trials and have similar characteristics to plastic, many of the uses are not yet to scale. Many organizations, including the UN, are continuing to research these materials and their market potential.
In addition to material selection, design for recyclability and reuse is an important area to ensure that plastics can be kept in circulation for longer. If you have visited a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) or have been involved in managing a recycling program, you know that just because a package says it is recyclable does not mean it is recyclable in practice. There are many factors that determine recyclability, including whether the MRF can effectively sort it, whether there is an end market for the material, and whether the consumer knows that it is recyclable. SWANA is engaging more closely with brands to support the goal that materials designed for recyclability can actually be recycled.
The Chair鈥檚 Text includes language on phasing out certain plastic products, such as single use utensils, straws, and bags, as well as certain chemicals. However, this language does not have support from the US delegates and others. In addition, some have maintained that this treaty is not the place for restrictions on chemicals, as those are covered under other international protocols.
Collection and Processing Infrastructure
There is widespread support for the need to improve the collection and processing infrastructure for plastic waste. In much of the world, basic waste collection services are basic or non-existent. Open dumping is common in areas that lack engineered landfills or the means to recycle. Therefore, it is important to include support for this basic waste management infrastructure in the treaty language. Article 8, of the Chair鈥檚 Text, titled 鈥淧lastic Waste Management,鈥� states that each party should take steps to 鈥渆stablish appropriate systems and disaster-resilient infrastructure at the national and subnational levels for the safe handling, sorting, collection, transportation, storage, recycling and disposal, including with energy recovery, of plastic waste.鈥�
When collection, recycling, and disposal works well, it prevents the leakage of plastic into the environment. However, in much of the world it is not working well. Even in North America, which has a very mature and robust waste and resource management infrastructure and policy framework, much of our infrastructure is dated and some areas are still lacking access to recycling. Many MRFs are relying on limited technology and cannot process certain types of packaging. Some national-level policy solutions are seeking to support recycling infrastructure. In the US, the proposed , supported by SWANA, would utilize tax credits to incentivize recycling infrastructure investment, while extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws at the state level seek to increase funding into recycling systems and to incentivize the use of recycled content and design for recyclability, composability, and reuse.
SWANA has been raising awareness of the major threat of fires to North American waste and recycling infrastructure and issued a earlier this year. Lithium-Ion batteries that end up in the household trash and recycling are causing fires in collection vehicles, at transfer stations, at MRFs, and at landfills and waste to energy facilities. In order to expand and safeguard collections and recycling, we also need to address the threat of lithium-ion batteries. Policies can provide a solution to this threat. We urge that the country-level commitments made as a result of the international treaty include policies to support the safe collection of batteries and the investment into technologies to detect batteries and to detect and suppress fires in order to protect our recycling infrastructure, workers, and the public.
The draft treaty also calls for providing international financial support to countries with less developed waste and recycling infrastructure to make investments and improvements to their systems. This would open an opportunity for North America to provide capacity building support to these countries through trainings, technical聽 services and consultations,聽 equipment, software, and more. The treaty can expand opportunities for the export of North American goods and services. The United Nations Statistics Division 聽(UNSTAT), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other institutions maintain classification systems of international services that break down the services provided at each stage of the recycling process. These classifications demonstrate the many opportunities for supporting capacity building internationally.
Funding Mechanisms
Widespread change does not come free and countries will need to make financial commitments to implement the goals of the treaty. Stakeholders agree that funding will be needed to support developing countries with strengthening their infrastructure and process for collecting plastics. Several of the pre-events I attended at INC-5.2 explored financing options, including the role of blended financing. Many options are available for how to develop international funding mechanisms and there may be challenges to determine the path forward, dependent on the willingness of countries to pay. The Chair鈥檚 Text includes examples of 鈥減rimary plastic polymer fees, extended producer responsibility schemes, development strategies, and national budgets.鈥� It also points to 鈥渂ilateral and multilateral funding and private sector investment and voluntary contributions.鈥�
One of the INC-5.2 pre-events focused on the potential of plastic credits, which are already in place in many regions, and are even incorporated into some EPR policies, such as in the Philippines. A plastic credit provides a value to plastic waste that is verified to have been collected and/or processed, with the goal of supporting plastic collection and raising the value of recycled plastic compared to virgin plastic.
The role of EPR has been on the minds of many and was a prime topic of conversation at SWANA鈥檚 INC-5.2 event hosted in Washington, DC. Some see the potential of EPR to incentivize design for recycling and the use of recycled content, while also funneling investment into the recycling systems. Others doubt the effectiveness of EPR in increasing the use of recycled content and improving recycling rates, citing studies that show there is not widespread evidence of these outcomes. EPR can include many different goals, so when engaging in EPR creation, it is important to decide on the goals of this policy intervention and to establish the EPR framework and regulations to meet those goals. SWANA鈥檚 EPR and provide some guidance for thinking about EPR and aspects of EPR that can support waste and resource management.
Next Steps
INC-5.2 is scheduled for August 5th to the 14th. It kicked off with an opening plenary, featuring remarks from the INC leaders, and giving stakeholders and observers the opportunity to speak.
The negotiators have been discussing the details of the agreement, but there are concerns that progress has been slow. A on August 8th by the begins 鈥淭he current approach is not delivering the progress we need to reach a meaningful outcome by the end of next week.鈥� Many stakeholders are calling for at least a foundational agreement to be reached during INC-5.2, even if it is a basic starting point that can be built on. The Chair鈥檚 Text calls for the establishment of a Conference of the Parties (COP) which would oversee implementation of the agreement, which will establish many of the specifics.
The coming week will be instrumental in determining whether an international agreement can be reached and what aspects it may include. Whatever the outcome, we know that the waste and resource management sector plays a key role in delivering results, whether through voluntary action or in response to policy mandates. SWANA will continue to bring together all organizations from across the value chain to find solutions. Collaboration and commitment are more important now than ever.
Kristyn Oldendorf is Senior Director of Public Policy & Communications for the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), a member-based association of professionals from across the waste and resource management industry. Committed to advancing from waste management to resource management, SWANA is empowering its members to deliver essential services to communities today and anticipate their needs for tomorrow. SWANA serves industry professionals through technical education, publications and research, and a large offering of technical training courses and credentialing to create a highly skilled workforce. For more information, visit .听