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Dar es Salaam – Tanzania: In combating plastic pollution, a Global Plastics Treaty calls for countries, including Tanzania, to recognize the value of the informal sector, especially Waste Pickers and Waste cooperatives, as essential to waste recovery.
This is the first time that the role of waste pickers is acknowledged in an environmental resolution, a groundbreaking advance in a just-transition from plastic.
The mandate acknowledges them not only as stakeholders but as important sources of knowledge and expertise whose involvement will be vital to solving the plastic crisis.
“Earlier this month, at the United Nations Environment Assembly, parties agreed upon a mandate to negotiate a legally binding treaty addressing the full lifecycle of plastic, from production to disposal.
It will impact the future of millions of people,” says Nipe Fagio’s Executive Director Ms. Ana Le Rocha
The treaty reflects both how quickly the plastics crisis is escalating and how powerful the citizen-powered movement to combat it has become.
“We now have a global commitment to end plastic pollution,” Ana noted.
Parties to the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) had agreed to work on the treat that will be drafted and ratified in the next two years by an International Negotiating Committee (INC).
The Global Plastics Treaty will join the Montreal Protocol and the Paris Climate Agreement as one of the most significant international environmental laws in world history.
The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and the Break Free From Plastic movement reinforce that this win is the culmination of years of tireless organizing around the world to expose the full scope of the plastic pollution crisis, and the need for urgent international action.
The support for a binding Global Plastics treaty is overwhelming — over 1,000 civil society groups, 450 scientists, and over one million individuals worldwide have joined the call.
The final agreement largely reflects civil society’s priorities for a treaty:
The treaty should cover all plastic pollution, in any environment or ecosystem.. This is an important broadening of the mandate from early concepts of “marine plastics” which would have severely limited the scope and impact of the treaty.
The treaty will be legally binding. Voluntary actions can complement mandatory actions, but not replace them.
The treaty will cover the full lifecycle of plastic, from the wellhead where oil and gas is extracted, through its production and consumption, to the post-consumer waste.
The treaty will be accompanied by financial and technical support, including a scientific body to advise it, and the possibility of a dedicated global fund – the details have been left to the treaty negotiation process.
Perhaps most significantly, the mandate recommends measures to tackle plastic production, which as of now is slated to almost quadruple by 2050, and take up 10 -13% of the global carbon budget, endangering our climate.
“It is promising that the mandate will look at plastic across its entire life cycle, shifting us away from problematic end-of-pipe interventions like waste incineration, and instead addressing the issue further upstream, in its production phase,” states Niven Reddy, GAIA Africa Coordinator.
“This milestone could not have happened without a global movement pushing decision-makers every step of the way.” Niven added.
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