All eyes on Ottawa: the world comes together to address plastic pollution

Thousands of delegates and stakeholders from around the world will descend on Ottawa this week to take a major step in addressing one of the most prevalent environmental issues of our time: how to eliminate plastic pollution. The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) is a milestone in developing a legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution. It’s a generational opportunity that has taken unmeasurable amounts of hard work and dedication by governments from around the globe. This began in 2022 with INC-1 in Uruguay, followed last year by INC-2 in France and INC-3 in Kenya. Following the Ottawa meeting, the process will culminate with the finalizing of the agreement at INC-5 in South Korea this winter. Isabelle Des Chênes is vice-president of policy for the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada. Photograph courtesy of Isabelle Des Chênes With industry, governments, environmental NGOs, and many other stakeholders taking part, there is a range of ideas on what’s needed to reduce and eventually eliminate plastic pollution while managing plastics efficiently so the world can make the most of this valuable resource. From medical equipment to renewable energy to protecting and prolonging nutritious food, virtually everyone on the planet relies on plastics. Plastics also play a major role in reducing emissions, addressing climate change, and meeting UN sustainability goals. Plastics have many beneficial qualities that reduce the weight of vehicles, making them less energy-intensive to operate. Plastics are also necessary to expand renewable energy: they are instrumental in the production of solar panels and wind turbines. The plastics industry recognizes that we cannot continue treating plastics as an afterthought once we have used them. They are too valuable and too important to ensure a prosperous and sustainable future. Plastics belong in the economy, not in the environment. To get there, we must accelerate a circular economy in which plastic products and packaging are sustainably reused or recycled instead of being discarded—enabled by a global agreement that unlocks industry innovation and global investment in plastics circularity. The transition to a circular economy will reduce plastic pollution and GHG emissions, increase resource efficiency, enhance economic development, and create jobs, especially in the Global South. Circularity—as confirmed by the ReShaping Plastics report—is the fastest and most affordable lever for accelerating the transition to a sustainable plastics system. And to scale up circularity, we must use an all-of-the-above strategy that ensures plastics are sustainably produced, designed, used, reused, and recycled—instead of discarded. Canada has taken steps domestically to address a number of the elements currently being considered in the draft treaty. Based on the plastic waste strategy and action plans created by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, the Canadian government has worked to advance policies and actions in areas such as product design of recycled content, single-use plastics, collection systems, and extended producer responsibility. These will serve as important parts of its eventual national action plan under a global treaty. Governments and industry alike must be open to investing in innovative technologies, including advanced or chemical recycling, which will allow formerly difficult-to-recycle plastics to be processed and kept in a circular economy. Approximately 50 per cent of plastic waste can be recycled with traditional mechanical recycling, while much of the rest can be recycled with innovative technologies that are already being developed and deployed. This will ensure that the products of the future can also be returned to the economy. To make this happen, the treaty must support enabling policies that de-risk critical private sector investments in recycling and technology transfer. What’s really needed to advance the treaty is recognition from all sides that enhanced collaboration between governments, science, industry, and civil society is imperative. When all sides work together, we can implement the policies needed to address plastic pollution efficiently and at the scale necessary to make a real difference. With all eyes on Ottawa, the city will be front and centre on the world stage. It won’t be easy, but the collaboration and sharing of ideas at INC-4 will make a globally binding treaty possible—a treaty that will have positive impacts on our planet that will be felt for years and decades to come. Isabelle Des Chênes is vice-president of policy for the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada. The Hill Times