The fifth round of negotiations (INC-5) for a United Nations agreement to reduce plastic waste has ended without an agreement. According to media reports, the states could not agree on binding measures and now want to continue negotiations next year. The reason for this is the resistance of oil-producing countries to an ambitious agreement that covers the entire life cycle of plastics, including requirements for the new production of plastics. The reactions to the failure of the agreement were mixed.
 

 

A rather small group of oil and gas-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, India and Russia, are calling for the agreement to focus on efficient waste management, while an alliance of more than 100 states has signed a declaration in favor of an ambitious agreement, reported the Tagesschau, for example. This had provided for the formulation of a specific reduction target for the production of plastics, as well as regulations for the use of hazardous chemicals. The recycling rate for plastics is currently around nine percent, so solving the problem with waste management seems impossible to many, writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung. According to a report by the German television channel ZDF, a draft of the agreement negotiated during the last seven days will serve as the basis for continuing the negotiations in May 2025. Hugo Schally, the senior official who negotiated the agreement for the EU Commission, is quoted in Der Standard as saying that this fully developed text is a significant step forward. According to Der Spiegel, the non-governmental organization Greenpeace sees the advantage of continuing the negotiations in not having agreed to a weak conclusion under time pressure. From their point of view, there is still a historic opportunity for an ambitious plastic agreement. The WWF is said to be disappointed that no agreement could be reached in Busan and to have particularly “deplored the continued resistance of a vocal minority of states that [...] did not seek a meaningful agreement,” Spiegel quotes from a statement by the NGO. PlasticsEurope, the association of European plastics manufacturers, on the other hand, views the course of the talks so far positively and appeals to the negotiating parties to continue on the ambitious course they have taken, report Plastverarbeiter and Euwid. The association recognizes progress in the current draft, which shows significant convergence on key issues such as product design and waste management, and calls for the agreement to promote measures that enable the sustainable production and use of plastics.
 
Sources:

• Tagesschau, ZDF, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Spiegel (1.12.2024)
• Standard, Plastverarbeiter (2.12.2024)
• Euwid Recycling and Waste Management 49/2024 (3.12.2024)
• Photo: © Luke Ow / Unsplash (Symbolbild)