Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution: the voice of innovation

From November 13 to 19, INC-3 – the 3rd round of negotiations for a global treaty against plastic pollution – was held in Nairobi.
At UN Environment headquarters, delegations from 175 countries, assisted by environmental associations and petrochemical groups, defined the contours of this treaty, due to be finalized by the end of 2024.

The SeaCleaners is at the negotiating table, alongside the Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty (IAGPT)*, to bring the voice of innovation to the fight against plastic pollution.
* Any resemblance to Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT is purely coincidental 🙂

Last September, at the close of INC-2, the United Nations made public the preliminary draft of this global treaty against plastic pollution, the fruit of the 2nd negotiating session in Paris. It is this draft that is currently being studied in Nairobi.

The Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty (IAGPT) brings together innovators: ecosystem facilitators, technology solution providers, members of the scientific community and waste management organizations, with the common goal of advancing innovative solutions to global plastic pollution across the entire plastic pollution lifecycle, from source to sea.

Objective: Zero plastic pollution by 2040.

The Innovation Alliance has analyzed the preliminary draft of the Plastic Pollution Treaty and issued its response.

According to the IAGPT, the preliminary draft already highlights some key strategies :

• The importance of scientific and technical innovation in the fight against plastic pollution
• The potential allocation of funds for specific purposes, including the treatment of low-value, legacy plastic waste
• Encouraging the facilitation of innovation, investment and access to essential technologies
• Emphasis on technology and information transfer, research and technical innovation
• Emphasis on scalable development of sustainable solutions.

In addition to these initial guidelines, the Innovation Alliance also recommends four complementary recommendations, which form part of the IAGPT vision statement.

1. Financial mechanisms to incentivize strategies to combat plastic pollution and penalize the production of virgin plastic

Financial constraints severely hamper the deployment of innovative solutions, particularly in emerging markets.
Clear financing mechanisms enable innovators to expand their solutions and tackle plastic pollution.

IAGPT recommends exploring financial mechanisms to develop innovative solutions, such as:

1. End fossil fuel subsidies for petrochemicals, tax the production and use of virgin plastic. Redirect these funds to galvanize the adoption of alternatives to virgin plastic, and implement effective plastic waste management systems.

2. Develop and implement extended producer responsibility mechanisms.

3. Facilitate flexible financing opportunities by simplifying funding procedures.

4. Promote financing mechanisms that provide incentives for the verified avoidance, removal and recovery of plastics.

2. We already know the solutions that help reduce plastic production and combat plastic pollution. The role of governments is to recognize, support and integrate these solutions into their objectives.

Innovators around the world have been at the forefront of the fight against plastic waste. As the United Nations prepares to propose a regulatory framework, it is essential that these existing solutions are not only recognized, but also integrated and safeguarded in global and national action plans.
AIGPT recommends the following approaches:

• Recognize and integrate a wide range of existing technologies that promote the reduction of plastic production and the redesign of single-use materials for recovery, such as:
  • • non-plastic substitutes
    • refillable/reusable materials and containers;
    • collection and recycling
    • operations to clean up plastic waste on land and in waterways.
• Promote the principle of technological neutrality to ensure that the treaty does not favor or discriminate against any technology, but rather sets targets and standards that enable innovative approaches to achieve the desired impact in the fight against plastic pollution.
• Guarantee the inclusion and working conditions of informal waste collection workers (ragpickers or wastepickers), as they are an integral part of the global plastic waste management chain.

3. Innovation players can use the data they collect to develop pragmatic policies against plastic pollution.

Our ecosystem of innovative initiatives collects and hosts a comprehensive repository of data that can guide the development and implementation of pragmatic policies.
By harnessing this data, informed decisions can be based on real-world knowledge and experience.
To achieve this end, the alliance recommends :

• Ensuring that practical ideas from innovators’ activities are solicited and taken into account in the policy-making process.
• Use data from technological solutions and innovations in the field to guide policy-making and monitor compliance, for example by publishing a handbook of existing technologies and their quantitative and qualitative impacts around the world.
• Explore the possibility of creating a center for research and data integration on plastic pollution in collaboration with innovators.

4. Moving forward together – prioritizing scalable, inclusive approaches

The complexity of plastic pollution demands targeted, scalable and comprehensive solutions. Recognizing that not all efforts yield the same results, IAGPT advocates :

• Identify and prioritize the most environmentally effective, cost-effective, socially inclusive and scalable strategies to tackle specific elements of the plastic pollution problem.
• Support promising solutions within regulatory frameworks to not only safeguard and incorporate these technologies into national and global action plans, but also amplify their effectiveness against plastic pollution.

The SeaCleaners offers solutions on land and at sea to combat plastic pollution.

Through a pioneering approach using cutting-edge technologies and innovative depollution solutions with proven success, we act with the conviction that only a global approach to plastic pollution, both curative and preventive, will raise awareness and bring about a radical change in usage.

The SeaCleaners’ fight within the Innovation Alliance is in line with The SeaCleaners’ four missions:

• Depollution – Helping to clean up oceans and aquatic environments, and recycling plastic waste.
• Science – Understand plastic pollution and develop and disseminate scientific knowledge.
• Awareness – Mobilizing all publics to raise awareness and bring about lasting changes in behavior
• Developing the circular economy – Ensuring optimal management of ocean waste, and promoting the circular economy locally.