BAN ON SHIPPING PLASTIC WASTE OUTSIDE THE EU
Waste exports to countries outside the EU have been curbed. The Netherlands opposes an outright ban on shipping plastic waste.
Important G7 statement on plastic pollution
18 April 2023
Plastic pollution must be reduced to zero by 2040. The world’s seven richest countries, united in the G7 and meeting in Sapporo in Japan, have declared this on the 16th of this month.
Plastic pollution has been on the agenda of the G7 in recent years. These seven countries meet every year and issue a communiqué following it. In 2018, for instance, five of the seven signed the Ocean Plastic Charter. This charter does not mention a year in which the end of pollution must have been achieved. Furthermore, two members of the G7 did not sign it; Japan and the United States.
What is the significance of the current declaration and what exactly is it promising?
END PLASTIC POLLUTION BY 2040, BUT HOW?
The G7 commits to end plastic pollution (Article 37). By 2040, all plastic pollution must have ended. How is this goal going to be achieved?
The key principles and tools are:
- measures for the entire production chain, i.e. from production to waste phase
- recycling and circularity
- environmentally sound control of plastic waste
- elimination of plastics that cannot be recycled
- elimination of harmful additives
- passing on the costs of plastic pollution
- addressing the causes and consequences of microplastics
INTERNATIONAL PLASTICS TREATY
Previous statements by rich countries amounted to non-binding promises. They recognise the problem of the plastic soup is recognised, and promise effective abatement, but binding measures remain absent. The times of non-committal statements now seem to be definitely over.
Earlier, the world opted for a separate treaty to combat plastic pollution. The G7 statement has come just before the UN has its next meeting on the plastics treaty, late May in Paris, when the details will be discussed. Countries with major interests in the oil and plastics industry, such as Japan and the United States, tried to avoid imposing production restrictions. They wanted the focus to be on waste control and recycling so that plastic production would not be constrained.
CONSTRUCTIVE COOPERATION PROMISED
The G7 declaration, also undersigned by Japan and the United States, states that the G7 will cooperate constructively on the UN convention “including mandatory measures” and “covering the entire life cycle of plastics” (Article 38). This means that these countries can or will no longer oppose measures that limit plastic production. And that is extremely good news.
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