Whether there is an agreement to a plastics treaty by the end of Sunday or not, the grim reality of the plastic pollution crisis on vulnerable communities in Vanuatu, especially on women and children, remains a grave concern for Rosemary Bue.
“As a mother, I fear for the future of my children,” she said. “I worry about how they will pay the price for a crisis they did not create. This is why the work we do here in Busan is important, and although there are many divergent views about what a treaty should look like, the big picture is that we cannot allow the current plastic pollution trends to continue, it will destroy our communities.”
Bue, a Senior Officer of Vanuatu’s Department of Environment, makes the point on the 11th hour of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5).
The session aims to conclude negotiations and finalise the text of the agreement. But the pace and progress of this week’s negotiations have been frustratingly slow for delegates from 175 countries attending the meeting, including many from the Pacific countries.
On Friday, INC-5 Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso issued a “non-Paper containing draft text of the Chair of the INC”. The paper includes a global list of plastic products to be managed and a financial mechanism to help fund developing countries’ action on the treaty.
The paper also mentioned, but did not confirm, whether the treaty will set a global target to cut output of primary plastic polymers or skip it altogether. It left it up to countries’ voluntary decisions to take a range of possible actions on plastic products and left undecided how rich nations would contribute to a fund. It also appeared to lack concrete standards on checking chemicals of concern, as well as on the protection of human health.
Down to the last 24 hours of INC-5 on Saturday night, negotiators at the Bexco Busan Centre face the daunting task of working around the clock to conclude negotiations and finalise the text of the agreement. Ms Bue, who is attending her first INC, said the experience has been a baptism by fire in terms of learning the intricacies of multilateralism, diplomacy and negotiations.
“We need a strong treaty, one that is mandatory, that would place the burden of responsibility on the people responsible for producing these plastics,” she said.
“This legal instrument and globally binding treaty must have strong provisions to control and regulate the production of plastics, it needs to address the full lifecycle of plastics. For us, plastic pollution is not just a waste management issue, it’s a health issue with all the chemicals used to produce plastics.”
Recent studies have found that more than 13,000 chemicals have been identified as associated with plastics and plastic production across a wide range of applications. Ten groups of chemicals have been identified as being of major concern due to their high toxicity and potential to migrate or be released from plastics.
Chemicals of concern have also been found in plastics across a wide range of sectors and products value chains, including toys and other children’s products, packaging (including food contact materials), electrical and electronic equipment, vehicles, synthetic textiles and related materials, furniture, building materials, medical devices, personal care and household products, and agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries.
Women and children are particularly susceptible to these toxic chemicals.
“Women and children are especially vulnerable to plastic pollution,” said Bue.
“Women when they are pregnant are at risk from the hazardous chemicals in plastic, and because they are carrying baby, there is a risk the baby will also be impacted. I think it’s important for the voice of women to be heard in this process so they can magnify and advocate these challenges we face.”
Bue is also particularly concerned about the health implications of plastic pollution.
“When you think about micro-plastics being found in the fish we eat, that’s quite scary. On top of the fact our countries are already impacted, we don’t have the resources and manpower to really research the human impacts of these plastics being in our fish. And that’s just a tiny fraction of the complex issues we have to look at.”
INC-5 negotiations heat up as a new study by EARTH and IPEN found that plastic waste and recycling workers in Thailand are exposed to greater numbers of and higher levels of hazardous plastic chemicals compared to Thai workers in occupations without significant exposures to plastics. Chemicals assessed in the study include phthalates that are known endocrine disruptors, highly toxic flame retardants, cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and other plastic chemicals.
The study found that all workers experienced chemical exposures to all six types of chemicals. Each worker was exposed to at least 21 chemicals, and 14 chemicals were found in every wristband tested. The findings overall are consistent with previous studies showing that we are all at risk of exposures to toxic plastic chemicals.
Plastic waste and recycling workers were exposed to more chemicals than the office workers. Plastic waste workers were exposed to the highest number of chemicals, but for some chemicals, recycling workers had the greatest number and/or higher levels of exposures. Phthalates, including some that are known endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), were detected at the highest concentrations of all the chemicals.
INC-5 follows four earlier rounds of negotiations: INC-1, which took place in Punta del Este in November 2022, INC-2, which was held in Paris in June 2023, INC-3, which happened in Nairobi in November 2023, and INC-4, held in Ottawa in April 2024.
“The moment of truth is here to end plastic pollution. Not a single person on this planet wants to witness plastic in their communities or washing up on their shores. Not a single person wants chemical-laced plastic particles in their bloodstreams, organs, or their unborn babies,” said Ms Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
“We have a historic moment to end the world’s plastic pollution crisis and protect our environment, our health, and our future. Our job in Busan this week is clear: agree a treaty that puts us on the road to delivering a plastic pollution free future once and for all.”
Bue said she remains hopeful that a breakthrough which leads to a treaty could transpire in the next 24 hours, and that a treaty could be achieved in Busan.
But that hope is diminishing with every hour that passes.
This story was originally published at SPREP on 01 December 2024, reposted via PACNEWS.
