Defra holds roundtable of businesses from across the plastic value chain ahead of the fifth session of negotiations to agree a global plastic pollution treaty (INC-5).
Held on 6 November 2024, the roundtable was co-chaired by the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Steve Reed, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Defra said participants, which included Tesco, Unilever, and WRAP, considered key elements that need to be included in the treaty text, focusing on the global rules and financing needed to address plastic pollution.
Businesses involved in the roundtable have signed an accompanying statement calling for an ambitious and effective treaty.
The statement is open for other private sector organisations to sign and non-private sector organisations to endorse from 6 November 2024 until the start of INC-5 on 25 November 2024.
The private sector organisations listed below have signed the statement:
- Circulate Capital
- Danone
- Fidelity International
- ING
- Legal and General Investment Management
- Mars
- Nestlé
- SC Johnson
- Tesco
- Unilever
- Waitrose
The non-private sector organisations listed below have endorsed the statement:
- WRAP
The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution took place in Ottawa, Canada, in April.
The final session, INC-5, is scheduled for 25 November 2024 in Busan, South Korea.
Harriet Lamb, CEO of WRAP, wrote after attending the roundtable that the Treaty must agree ambitious and actionable strategies that businesses and governments will follow, and can be monitored.
“The time for legislation to take over is now,” Lamb wrote. “Controlling plastics pollution, banning some items and ensuring a circular economy in plastics needs global regulation.
“Action must focus particularly on finance to support countries in the global south that are most immediately impacted by the worsening plastic problem, so they can invest in the infrastructure, skills and solutions of the future.”
Ten US states have called for the United States federal government to advocate for stronger measures in the United Nations Plastic Treaty.
