ENVIRONMENT
March , made history when it agreed on a mandate to establish a treaty to end plastics pollution .
For Professor Fletcher and his colleagues , it was a “ mega step change ”.
“ This is the world ’ s highest level environmental decision-making body . For the first time , it has initiated a process for developing a legally binding global treaty to end plastics pollution , and 175 countries signed .
“ It ’ s not a binding treaty yet , but the starting gun has been fired .”
Professor Fletcher says the process now is to develop a policy framework for a legally binding agreement to be on the table for signing by the end of 2024 .
The work of the University ’ s Global Plastics Policy Centre will provide useful evidence to support the negotiations to develop the global agreement .
Technical muscle
The Global Plastics Policy Centre is the world ’ s only independent research body with a dedicated team focused on developing rigorous , evidencebased plastics policy analysis . Its work is supported by the Netherlands-based Flotilla Foundation , a philanthropic body with a mission to enhance humankind ’ s relationship with the marine environment .
Professor Fletcher believes the most effective pathway for a resolution to the plastics issue is a totally new approach to plastics manufacturing , consumption , and reuse or recycling . He says the issue is too complex to expect changing people ’ s behaviour , which has been the focus to date , to be the sole answer .
“ It sounds the most malleable option , but is massively constrained by a community ’ s economic capability , people ’ s knowledge and awareness , and the existence of infrastructure such as recycling facilities ,” says Professor Fletcher .
New thinking
“ The other school of thought , therefore , is to change the system to give consumers proper information and choice about products . For example , label goods with information about recycling and reusability . At the moment we have thousands of different types of plastic , few of which can be recycled because of their chemistry . But consumers don ’ t know which is which .”
Professor Fletcher says a global plastics treaty won ’ t address this directly , but it will set goals for policies and research .
“ We don ’ t know what the global goal is right now because that will be part of the negotiations . But given the mandate is to end plastics pollution , the anticipation is that there will be a target and that target will be to end plastics pollution by a certain date .”
Professor Fletcher adds that , importantly , the meaning of the term ‘ end plastics pollution ’ has to be negotiated : “ Does it mean absolutely zero pollution or does it mean zero pollution reaching a particular environment ? Or does it mean net zero where we accept there will be some pollution , but we then clean it up to achieve net zero waste entering the environment ? All this has to be determined , and the determination has to be informed by research .
“ So hopefully the way forward for a global agreement will be through changing the system in which plastic is made and used , rather than simply trying to influence people ’ s recycling behaviour .”
This was Professor Fletcher ’ s message to the UK Parliament ’ s Environment , Food and Rural Affairs Committee ( EFRA ) in early 2022 . Giving evidence to a plastic waste inquiry , he reiterated that any solution will only work if the entire system of production , consumption and waste management is considered as a whole : “ Isolated intervention won ’ t work unless the rest of the system is adapted to that intervention or configured to allow that intervention to work ,” he said .
REVOLUTION PLASTICS / 2023 35