CBCGDF’s 16 Suggestions to UNEP on Plastic Pollution Negotiation
At the resumed session of the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) ended in early March 2022, countries all over the world agreed to formulate a legally binding international agreement to prevent and control plastic pollution, which will be negotiated and finalized before 2024. China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), as a certification body of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and an observer of the United Nations Environment Assembly(UNEA), has established “Reduce & Pick-up Plastics Working Group” (RPPWG), which has long been committed to the reduction and treatment of plastic pollution sources. In view of the upcoming negotiation process on plastic pollution, CBCGDF’s working group of "plastic reduction" has put forward the following 16 suggestions to UNEP and relevant intergovernmental negotiation mechanisms.
1、 All countries shall establish and enact “Anti-Plastic Waste Law”. Reducing waste is the most effective way to control plastic pollution. At present, more than 50% of the global plastic pollution beyond national boundaries comes from the massive waste of plastic products. For example, 90% of the impact of excessive packaging of moon cakes on the environment is unnecessary and avoidable. Therefore, countries should adopt legislation to reduce plastic waste.
2、 Bring the concept of plastic pollution prevention and control into the education system of all countries. We call on all countries to introduce policies to require schools under compulsory education to implement the policy of " Plastic-free Back-to-school seasons". We propose to actively promote the concept of reducing plastic pollution in the education system and enhance the awareness.
3、 "Green Consumption Right" should be formally recognized by international communities and established as a basic consumption right. Consumers should have the right to "green consumption", the right to require service providers to respect consumers' choices & wishes for green consumption (such as not using disposable paper cups and allowing the use of self-contained cups), the right to complain that service providers refuse consumers' choice of green consumption, and the right to report unnecessary plastic pollution.
4、 Microplastics, as an emerging and permanent pollutants, should be included in the monitoring indicators of drinking water in all countries. At present, the range of microplastics pollution monitored is very wide. Microplastics have been found in the poles, glaciers and even the deepest Mariana Trench. Micro plastics have quietly infiltrated the human body, affecting the health of ecosystems, the health of us and future generations and biodiversity. All countries should improve monitoring indicators and include detection of micro plastics in monitoring standards of drinking water indicators.
5、 Establish a tax system in all countries to promote the reduction of plastic pollution. First, we should comprehensively increase taxes on plastic production and consumption industries; Secondly, we need to increase the "plastic consumption tax", so that everyone - whether producers or consumers - can feel the ecological and environmental cost of plastic pollution, and curb the current large amount of waste.
6、 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) should establish Technical Committee (TC) for Plastic Pollution Prevention and Control as soon as possible. Standards are the fruits of the progress of human civilization and the universal language of the world. The prevention and control of plastic pollution is in line with the vision of "making life easier, safer and better" in ISO strategy 2030. We call on ISO to actively develop relevant international standards to promote global plastic pollution control, and call for the rapid development of international standards for over packaging of food &cosmetics, international standards for micro plastics & human health and international standards for plastic pollution & biodiversity protection.
7、 Determine the ultimate goal of ending plastic pollution.
We should strictly prevent and control the pollution in the process of plastic production, consumption and treatment in order to protect human, animal and plant health, ensure the achievement of the 1.5C ° climate goal and the post-2020 biodiversity goal. The formulation of specific indicators should be fully integrated in the requirements of international treaties such as Stockholm Convention, Paris Climate Convention and Minamata Convention on mercury.
8、 Reduce the production of plastic products from the source of design.
We suggest to carry out zero plastic product design and produce plastic products as little as possible. For example, recyclable daily necessities, packaging bags and packaging boxes can be made based on natural materials such as bamboo fiber, bamboo board and wheat straw board. We suggest that the United Nations Environment Programme hold worldwide “zero plastic design competition” to expand promotion of the concept.
9、 Prohibit or restrict the production of disposable plastic packaging.
1) In view of the ubiquity of micro plastics, the latest research shows that micro plastics has entered human blood, and the health risk is huge. We suggest that instead of using plastic bottles for drinking water or beverages, tempered glass bottles should be used and recycled. This alone can reduce the global production of plastic bottles by more than 500 billion every year.
2) The liquid is packaged in plastic, and the micro plastic produced is harmful to human health. We suggest to prohibit the use of small composite plastics to hold liquid commodities such as milk, edible vinegar and soy sauce, and use toughened glass bottles instead, which should be recycled. China alone can reduce more than 100 billion milk plastic bags every year.
3) Change the current situation that candy commodities are separately packed in plastic bulk, and use toughened glass bottles for centralized storage. We suggest to stipulate the minimum amount of candy in each tempered glass bottle, and the tempered glass bottle should be recycled.
4) Formulate binding specifications for express packaging bags and boxes that produce zero plastic or use plastic as little as possible, and greatly reduce the use of plastic packaging.
5) Formulate binding specifications for take-away lunch boxes to greatly reduce the use of plastic packaging.
6) Prohibit the commercial publicity of packaged beverages and edible goods on TV, mobile phones and business platforms to curb the social communication of such goods.
10、Formulate global specifications for renewable design in the production of plastic products and establish a global renewable design database of plastic products. China synthetic resin Association (CSRA) has issued two group standards, namely, Design Guide for recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) container packaging products and Design Guide for recyclable high-density polyethylene (HDPE) container packaging products, which will be officially implemented on May 3. This is the first recyclable design guideline standard in China's plastics industry, which provides a direct reference tool for the design / production of pet and HDPE products. Based on the guidelines, CSRA launched the "evaluation project of recyclable and renewable design of plastic products" according to the actual situation in China.
11、Formulate technical specifications for the global unified priority of plastic product recycling. The recycling of waste plastics mainly includes material recycling and energy recycling. It is suggested that the United Nations Environment Programme clarify the international recycling standard guidelines and divide the recycling of waste plastics into four levels according to the recycling priority. The first and second levels are the regeneration of physical recycled materials, the third level is the preparation of chemicals or oil products by chemical recycling, and the fourth level is the energy recovered from the incineration of waste plastics.
12、Formulate global technical specifications for mandatory cleaning, classification and recycling of domestic waste and waste plastics. We suggest to formulate a method for compulsory cleaning and classification of waste plastics at the source, and prohibit the use of thermoplastic bags to put, collect and transport domestic waste all over the world as soon as possible, so as to create conditions for reducing the end incineration of plastic waste. We suggest that it is forbidden to use plastic bags to contain wet garbage and cleaning garbage, it is forbidden to use plastic bags to transport and transfer domestic garbage, and it is forbidden to mix waste plastic garbage with other domestic garbage, put it in, collect, transfer, transport and treat it.
13、Determine the schedule for ending plastic pollution control, and formulate binding quantitative indicators for different treatment technologies of waste plastics. We suggest to greatly reduce the incineration and landfill treatment of plastic waste, and strictly prevent the micro plastics produced by waste plastic incineration from being transmitted through the atmosphere and rivers for a long distance and finally collected into the ocean, which is aggravating the micro plastic pollution of soil, rivers and oceans. We suggest to set targets for the proportion of waste plastic incineration in 2030, 2040 and 2050. The proportion of waste plastic incineration in the world will not exceed 10% in 2030, 5% in 2040 and 1% in 2050.
14、Establish a global supervision mechanism for waste plastic landfill and incineration. The Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention is required to urge all implementing countries to publish the data on the discharge of domestic waste incineration treatment by waste incineration of dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, hexachlorobenzene, pentachlorobenzene, polychlorinated Nair and hexachlorobutadiene to the environment every year, so as to control the long-distance transmission and sedimentation of persistent organic pollutants into the ocean through the atmosphere，which produces persistent hazards.
15、Random landfill of incineration of fly ash & ash residue should be banned. It is required that fly ash must be solidified and stored separately. Domestic waste incineration residue contains a large number of micro plastics, multiple carcinogenic heavy metals and a variety of carcinogens polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We suggest that the UNEP list the waste incineration residue as toxic and harmful substances, and make it clear that it can be landfilled only after safe disposal.
16、Achieve full coverage of greenhouse gas emission targets for waste plastic treatment as soon as possible. In 1997, the Kyoto protocol included carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) in the list of greenhouse gases under global control. We suggest that the UNEP integrate the six greenhouse gas indicators into the global binding indicators for domestic waste treatment as soon as possible, forcing the reduction of waste incinerators, so as to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from domestic waste treatment.
CBCGDF "plastic reduction " working group
Date: March 31, 2022
Contact Linda: v10@CBCGDF.org
Contact Sara: v25@CBCGDF.org
Acknowledgements: Heartfelt thanks for the following experts and scholars for their dedication to this article: Zhou Ke, Zhu Jinfeng, Yang Changjiang, Chen Shang, Zhou Jinfeng, Chen Bin and Tao Siming..