(29 March 2022) – Caribbean
The Global Commitment provides a voluntary framework for stakeholders to develop and report on actions and progress related to plastic pollution. This ISLANDS webinar was convened in cooperation with UNEP and IUCN. By outlining the primary objectives of the Global Commitment, the webinar invited ISLANDS Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) to become signatories of the Global Commitment and take away crucial insights obtained by other signatories. The session also featured IUCN projects that explore effective and quantifiable solutions to tackle plastic pollution, especially within the SIDS context.
Overall, this ISLANDS webinar facilitated knowledge exchange by highlighting the existing solutions to Turn the Tide on plastics in SIDS. It also showcased how ISLANDS can facilitate SIDS-to-SIDS learning through the Green Forum.1
Watch the webinar recording here.
Discussion moderated by Alison Watson, Life Cycle Initiative, UNEP.
Melanie Ashton, CCKM Project, ISLANDS Programme opened the webinar by underlining the links between persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and plastics. She noted that plastics and POPs pose risks to human health at every stage of their respective lifecycles. In the manufacture of plastics, various chemical additives are included to improve their quality, despite potentially negative health and environmental effects.
Ashton provided examples of POPs found in plastics, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) which are a group of brominated flame retardants used in polyurethane foam for car and furniture upholstery, as well as plastic casings for electronics. She also noted that short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are industrial softeners in plastics. They have been recently found in PVC baby bibs and other plastic products favoured by children. Ashton highlighted that recycling materials containing POPs contaminates the resulting products and continues the legacy of hazardous emissions and exposure; a process she said, is especially damaging to a true circular economy.
Ashton concluded that the links between POPs and plastics don’t end with distinct and specific products that require careful management. She underscored that microplastics, ubiquitous in the world’s ocean, are hydrophobic in nature and adsorb and carry carcinogenic POPs, assisting in their long-range transport. That is why we are attempting to phase out microplastics, she explained.
Alison Watson, Life Cycle Initiative, UNEP outlined the architecture of the Global Commitment. Led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UNEP, the Global Commitment was launched in 2018 to unite businesses and governments in changing the way plastics are produced and consumed; specifically through accelerating their elimination and innovating reusing, recycling, and composting of plastics. The vision for circular economy sits at the centre of the Commitment, as it aims to keep the plastics we use within the economy, not the environment. As more than 1,000 organizations – from plastic producers and leading brands to governments and waste management companies – support the Commitment, they now endorse the common vision for a circular economy, collaborate with other stakeholders, report annually and publicly on the progress made, and strive to achieve the common vision by 2025 through their voluntary frameworks. Progress is being made across the six key action areas2. As of February 2022, the Global Commitment’s signatories account for more than 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally. Watson, acknowledging the acute impact from plastics pollution to SIDS, indicated that joining the Commitment will assist SIDS to “step up activities and adopt voluntary measures” that materialize “circular economy approaches” and provide “statistical information on environmentally sound management of plastic waste”, as articulated in the paragraph 15 of the UNEA 5.2 Resolution. In other words, the Global Commitment can help its signatories speed up action as the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee sessions to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution take place in parallel.
Llorenç Milà i Canals, Life Cycle Initiative, UNEP shared outline of the Global Commitment. Led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UNEP, the Global Commitment was launched in 2018 to unite businesses and governments in changing the way plastics are produced and consumed based on the shared vision for a circular economy. The private sector signatories focus on eliminating unnecessary and/or problematic plastics, implementing reusable business models, adopting 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable plastic packaging at scale and decoupling plastic use from the consumption of finite resources. The government signatories in parallel endorses the common vision for a circular economy, collaborate with stakeholders, report annually and publicly on the progress made and initiate immediate actions across the plastics life cycle to achieve the common vision by 2025. From its 2021 report, it was shown that after decades of growth in plastic production, virgin plastic use by the private sector signatories – that represent about 20% of the plastic packaging globally produced – has fallen since their signing of the Global Commitment and is anticipated to fall quicker while sustaining the business growth.
Considering the acute impact from plastics pollution to SIDS, Milà i Canals indicated that joining the Commitment will assist SIDS to step up activities and adopt voluntary measures, to materialize circular economy approaches, and provide statistical information on environmentally sound management of plastic waste, as articulated in the paragraph 15 of the UNEA 5.2 Resolution. In other words, the Global Commitment can help its signatories speed up action as the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee sessions to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution take place in parallel.
Asha Challenger, Lead Oceans Negotiator at the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Permanent Mission of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations, discussed the outcomes of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) 5.2, which resulted in the resolution that will pave way to an international legally binding instrument to address plastic pollution. She said this provides important context the Global Commitment. Challenger highlighted that the UNEA 5.2 resolution comes at a time when the impacts of plastic pollution at SIDS requires more urgent and targeted solutions, due to the impacts upon the key SIDS sectors – including tourism and fisheries – and the marine environment. She hoped that the upcoming INC processes would consider priority areas for SIDS, including: long-term measures (e.g., behavioural and systemic changes by including key principles such as sustainable consumption and production and transition to a circular economy); and short-term measures (reduction of plastics input through improved waste management and clean-ups). Furthermore, Challenger underscored that establishing different working and engagement modalities for SIDS, capacity building and technology transfer, should be addressed through the INC processes. She concluded by noting that the resolution included elements especially relevant to SIDS such as ‘impact of plastic pollution to the marine environment’ and ‘consideration of the role of traditional knowledge from the indigenous and local communities.
Janaka DeSilva, Global Marine and Polar Programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) outlined the IUCN activities involving quantification solutions which help SIDS address plastic leakage as part of a systems approach. DeSilva explained that IUCN projects target national-level actions. He explained the IUCN projects aim to support countries in obtaining good baseline information and address the plastic pollution issue across the entire plastics lifecycle. He said investigation into the economics behind the plastic pollution that is heavily neglected, as end-of-life plastic products are often discarded based on their negative value. He highlighted the Plastic Waste Free Island Project, which he said not only quantifies the plastic waste generated but also their condition and type. He explained the project is now aiming to match entrepreneurs with investors, which can lead to creation of a scalable, repeatable solutions.
In the ensuing discussion, participants questioned if there were penalties for countries who have signed up to the Global Commitment, that do not meet their targets by 2025. Llorenç Milà i Canals clarified that the Global Commitment is a voluntary initiative, and no penalization occurs, but only that countries are expected to disclose their progress publicly. On a question on ensuring transparency and accountability in plastic actions, Asha Challenger responded that transparency and accountability in reporting plastic production – whose data which are generally only available through the private sector – is very important, as this data can often provide baseline to the future action. She also indicated that information on POPs and microplastics can be better informed by tracking what SIDS are importing, what materials those products are made of and whether they are releasing any harmful substances into the environment.
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The Implementing Sustainable Low and Non-Chemical Development in Small Island Developing States (ISLANDS) Programme is a $515-million, five-year initiative backed by the Global Environment Facility, which is providing $75 million. It supports 33 small island developing states in four regions – the Atlantic, Caribbean, Indian and Pacific oceans – to reduce and manage hazardous waste and improve chemicals management in their territories. ISLANDS is led by UNEP, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
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