Talks under way in Ottawa on curbing global plastics pollution

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A delegation of U.S. politicians visiting Ottawa for a UN conference on plastics pollution is calling for urgent action on the pollutant that can harm human health and the environment, saying the world can’t repeat the mistakes of the climate change response.

Senator Jeff Merkley, among four Democratic senators and a Democratic congressman, said he doesn’t see a clear pathway to an effective treaty on curbing plastics at this point.

“This negotiation should not be one of wishful thinking, of simply saying we will have aspirations for what each nation might do, and we hope they will go out and do a good job,” Mr. Merkley said at a news conference Monday.

Despite the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, the senator noted that the production of greenhouse gases increased. “We cannot make that same mistake with plastics. We need to have a concrete vision in which we produce real results,” he said.

Delegates from 174 countries are in Ottawa this week for the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, or INC-4, which falls under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Program. The effort is working to develop an international, legally binding plastics treaty by the end of 2024.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said he, and other members of the delegation, wanted U.S. negotiators to “lean forward in these negotiations.”

Other members at the news conference, held at an Ottawa hotel as the UN session got under way, were Senator Peter Welch, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who ran for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidency in 2020.

Mr. Huffman said there is a lot at stake. “The more we learn about the amount of plastics and microplastics and nanoplastics in the environment, in the marine ecosystem, the food that we eat, the water we drink, the air that we breathe, our body tissues, the more that we understand that we need to go upstream and start tackling this problem in a bold way.”

However, he said the world is not on that path. “The world is on a path instead to triple the amount of plastic that is produced and inevitably makes its way into all of these different places, including our own bodies. So we have a lot of work to do.”

Negotiations in Ottawa are the last talks before a fifth and final session, scheduled for November in South Korea.

“Our hope is that our presence here will intensify the efforts of all the negotiators to come up with something that is going to be beneficial to all the people we represent,” said Mr. Welch.

Earlier Monday, Canada’s Environment Minister announced the creation of a new federal plastics registry to push industry in Canada to monitor and track the use of the substance.

The registry will compel plastic resin manufacturers, producers of plastic products and service providers to annually report on the amounts and types of plastic they put out in the market, and where the plastic ends up.

Steven Guilbeault described an urgent situation. “We produce, buy, use and throw plastic away irresponsibly and unsustainably. Plastic pollution is found in every corner of the planet. We are breathing, drinking and eating it. We know there is another way.”

According to the United Nations Environment Program, 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, of which seven billion tonnes have become waste. Humanity now produces 430 million tonnes of plastic a year, the organization says, with most becoming waste.

Mr. Guilbeault underscored the importance of the negotiations at INC-4, calling it a “once-in-a-generation moment” to create this international agreement. He added, “Our action must reflect conviction and ambition and hope.”

Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN Environment Program, said it’s important the negotiations lead to a strong outcome that “moves us closer to an instrument that addresses the whole life cycle of plastic.”

She underscored the Canadian government’s role in these negotiations. “People across the world are demanding change and are looking to Ottawa to be the place that we make that step forward.”

The collaboration of international partners is crucial in making these negotiations timely and relevant, Ms. Andersen explained. “We must agree on clear, measurable, time-bound targets. … You can’t have a deal that doesn’t say what we’re going to do and when we’re going to do it.”

In a separate news conference on Monday, NDP MP Gord Johns said the plastics registry is welcomed, but highlighted that more work needs to be done by the federal government.

“They’ve taken a slow reaction in terms of tackling this crisis,” Mr. Johns said, explaining that the government has not put a cap on oil and gas in the production of plastics.

“We expect and need that to happen in the negotiations here as host nation.”

Asked for comment on the plastics issue, a spokesperson for federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre noted that the federal court, last November, ruled against a cabinet order that listed plastic-manufactured items as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

The ruling said it was not reasonable to say all such items are harmful because the category is too broad. In response, Mr. Guilbeault said in a social-media posting that the federal government was considering an appeal.

In a statement Monday, Sebastian Skamski said the ban was not backed by any science and that the Conservatives would protect the environment while preserving jobs.