As plastic Production Grows, Treaty Negotiations to Reduce Plastic Waste Are Stuck in Low Gear

Plastic pollution has spread to Earth’s farthest reaches, with widespread effects on wildlife, the environment and human health. To curb this problem, U.N. member countries are negotiating a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution, which they aim to complete by the end of 2024.
That effort is well underway. In September 2023, the U.N. Environment Programme released the so-called zero draft – a first iteration of ideas and goals that emerged from the first two rounds of negotiations. And in November 2023, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution met in Nairobi, Kenya, for the third negotiating round of a planned five sessions.
Studies show that plastic causes harm in all stages of its life cycle, from production through use and disposal. Because the draft treaty includes provisions that address all of these phases, environmental advocates greeted it as a step in the right direction.
The draft includes 13 provisions that address issues such as reducing plastics production, the use of recycled materials, phasing out single-use plastics, promoting alternative materials and limiting the use of chemicals of concern – materials that have high toxicities and the potential to be released from plastic products. But with three rounds of negotiations now complete, major questions remain unresolved.

Recycling isn’t keeping up
Plastic has many uses, and it’s cheap. These attributes drive what some observers call a plastic addiction.
In particular, thanks to consumers’ desire for convenience, about 36% of global plastic production is for single-use items, such as food packaging, straws, grocery bags and utensils. Global plastic production doubled from 2000 through 2019, but recycling rates in the U.S. and elsewhere have remained essentially flat.
Treaties have successfully curbed other global harms, including acid rain, stratospheric ozone loss and mercury contamination. Many environmental advocates see the decision to design a global plastic treaty as a unique opportunity, on a par with the 2015 Paris accord to address global climate change.
But based on my research into curbing plastic pollution, I believe such an agreement won’t succeed unless major governments embrace a life-cycle approach that addresses all stages of the plastic value chain, from production to disposal. And since plastics are made from petrochemicals, the fossil fuel industry has a strong interest in the outcome and will need incentives to support proposals for limiting production.

The ozone precedent
Historically, the U.S. has taken the position that plastic pollution is a waste disposal problem. Industry, too, prefers to treat plastic pollution primarily as an issue of people mismanaging waste. Relevant U.S. policies, such as the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act enacted in 2020, have focused on managing waste rather than reducing plastic production.
In May 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution. While green groups view it as an improvement over past policies, the proposal does not ban nonessential plastics, as some advocates urge.
In my view, recycling and end-of-life management of plastic play oversized roles in the draft. What’s more, critics argue that the plan’s focus on voluntary waste reduction goals will be ineffective.I see the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which phased out production and use of chemicals that deplete Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, as a better model. This treaty, which is widely viewed as successful, clearly identified the chemicals at issue and included scientists in the negotiating process.
It set an ambitious schedule for monitoring and controlling ozone-depleting substances, gave industry a central role in developing substitutes and left room for businesses and regulators to innovate. Thanks to the treaty’s design, plus updates to address newly recognized threats, scientists agree that Earth’s ozone layer is on track to recover.

Lagging negotiations on plastic
Countries did not show this kind of unity in the Nairobi negotiations on the plastics treaty. Environmental advocates accused a handful of oil-producing countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia, of engaging in what the green groups viewed as stalling tactics by introducing new proposals. These so-called “low-ambition countries” have pushed for language that allows individual countries to determine how to reduce plastic and focuses on waste management.
In contrast, a separate High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, chaired by Rwanda and Norway, together with the African Group of Negotiators and the Small Island Developing States, pressed for setting binding targets and eliminating problematic plastics, such as single-use items. As an example, the U.S., Canada, several other nations and the European Union have already banned or limited the use of microbeads in personal care products. These tiny beads, which are added for purposes such as helping to remove dry, dead cells from users’ skin, have become widely distributed in the environment.
Another concern is treatment of waste pickers – people whose livelihood depends on collecting and sorting plastic waste. Negotiators have called for a just transition for people working in the informal waste economy, through steps such as making plastics less toxic and providing compensation as countries reduce use of plastics.
The fossil fuel industry had a significant presence at the Nairobi meeting. According to the Center for International Environmental Law, a legal and policy advocacy group, 143 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered for this round of negotiations, a 36% increase from the previous round. The industry’s main goals focus on end-of-life measures like increasing recycling, rather than limiting production.
Ultimately, nations failed to agree on how to narrow down the proposals in the draft treaty ahead of the fourth round of negotiations, which is scheduled for April 2024 in Ottawa, Canada. Instead, the text still lists multiple proposals for addressing each major issue.
Although the negotiations are behind schedule, many nations agree that a binding treaty on plastic pollution is critical to solving the plastic pollution problem. As I see it, key conditions for success include minimizing oil and gas industry influence and increasing U.S. support for a life-cycle approach, including agreements to phase out single-use plastics and harmful chemicals.
In addition, I believe scientists should have a formal way to provide policymakers and negotiators with regular updates on the scientific evidence related to plastic pollution. Insights about the effects of plastic waste continue to emerge, and a treaty that reflects those findings will be better positioned to achieve its goal.

www.nationalgeographic.com

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UNITED CAPS Recognized with GOLD SAVE FOOD DESIGN Award for Its BUMP CAP Product

“We are proud to have received this prestigious inaugural award,” said Hoffmann-Leist, who is stationed in Malaysia and responsible for all business activities in the Asia Pacific region in her additional role as Business Director. “As closure experts, we are in a unique position to develop very ambitious and complex closures, both through our own research and development, as well as in collaboration with innovators like MIMICA.”
BUMP CAP is an innovative one-of-a-kind solution designed to reduce global food waste by making it easy to determine whether food products continue to be safe to consume. This intelligent freshness indicator is designed to change the way people think about what a cap can do and how they can actively fight food waste. The BUMP CAP makes it easy to determine if contents have begun to degrade. Not only is reducing food waste important for the planet, but this alone also reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as food waste is responsible for up to 10% of the world’s GHG emissions. Once the beverage begins to degrade, bumps occur on the top of the cap, giving a tactile indicator of freshness.
Using patented gel technology that is much more accurate than a ‘best before’ date, BUMP CAP has been proven to extend shelf and storage life and can be used on most perishable products, including milk and juices. This gel technology is embedded in the BUMP CAP and activated upon first opening of the beverage. Without any physical contact with beverage contents, it uses time and temperature to accurately measure when the beverage spoils.
The SAVE FOOD Initiative is dedicated to addressing one of the world’s most critical challenges: food loss and waste,” stated Mr. Thomas Dohse, Director of the interpack alliance. “The packaging and processing sector plays a crucial role in mitigating food loss and waste. As members of this industry, we have a hands-on role to play! Together, and with the support of our partners of the SAVE FOOD Initiative, we tirelessly work in processing and packaging to rescue and conserve food, contributing to a positive impact on the environment.
As a testament to our commitment, the SAVE FOOD Initiative was thrilled to launch the SAVE FOOD DESIGN AWARD and SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN AWARD, hosted for the very “We are proud to have received this prestigious inaugural award,” said Hoffmann-Leist, who is stationed in Malaysia and responsible for all business activities in the Asia Pacific region in her additional role as Business Director. “As closure experts, we are in a unique position to develop very ambitious and complex closures, both through our own research and development, as well as in collaboration with innovators like MIMICA.

BUMP CAP is an innovative one-of-a-kind solution designed to reduce global food waste by making it easy to determine whether food products continue to be safe to consume. This intelligent freshness indicator is designed to change the way people think about what a cap can do and how they can actively fight food waste. The BUMP CAP makes it easy to determine if contents have begun to degrade. Not only is reducing food waste important for the planet, but this alone also reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as food waste is responsible for up to 10% of the world’s GHG emissions. Once the beverage begins to degrade, bumps occur on the top of the cap, giving a tactile indicator of freshness.
Using patented gel technology that is much more accurate than a ‘best before’ date, BUMP CAP has been proven to extend shelf and storage life and can be used on most perishable products, including milk and juices. This gel technology is embedded in the BUMP CAP and activated upon first opening of the beverage. Without any physical contact with beverage contents, it uses time and temperature to accurately measure when the beverage spoils,

The SAVE FOOD Initiative is dedicated to addressing one of the world’s most critical challenges: food loss and waste,” stated Mr. Thomas Dohse, Director of the interpack alliance. “The packaging and processing sector plays a crucial role in mitigating food loss and waste. As members of this industry, we have a hands-on role to play! Together, and with the support of our partners of the SAVE FOOD Initiative, we tirelessly work in processing and packaging to rescue and conserve food, contributing to a positive impact on the environment.
As a testament to our commitment, the SAVE FOOD Initiative was thrilled to launch the SAVE FOOD DESIGN AWARD and SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN AWARD, hosted for the very www.unitedcaps.com.

ABOUT UNITED CAPS
UNITED CAPS is a global industry reference for the design and production of high-performance plastic caps and closures. Extensive innovative capabilities and a broad portfolio of advanced standard and bespoke solutions make UNITED CAPS a preferred partner for the world’s leading companies. We support our customers’ value chain by safeguarding product integrity, assuring safety and consumer health, and ultimately protecting brand reputation. As a highly dynamic and flexible family-based group, UNITED CAPS offer end-to-end solutions, including mold-making capability, to serve a wide range of applications and markets around the world. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg and has manufacturing facilities in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain and the United Kingdom. Employing around 750 people, UNITED CAPS’s turnover amounts to 186 million Euros (as at end 2022) with a 11 billion closures produced.www.unitedcaps.com

www.unitedcaps.com

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ALPLA: Recycled plastic reduces carbon consumption by up to 87 per cent 

– Recycling works: plastic packaging specialist ALPLA operates state-of-the-art plants worldwide under the brand ALPLArecycling for the production of rPET (recycled PET) and rHDPE (recycled HDPE). Calculation of the product carbon footprint by the independent consultancy c7-consult now provides new data for a total of four plants in Mexico and Germany. Carbon reductions of up to 87 per cent compared to virgin materials confirm the climate protection effect of recycled plastics and the ecological importance of regional bottle-to-bottle loop
ALPLA is focusing on the circular economy: the global packaging specialist invests more than 50 million euros annually in recycling and uses state-of-the-art technologies to produce recycled material. With an installed and projected output capacity of 350,000 tonnes per year, the company is one of the world’s leading plastics recyclers. Analyses performed by the life cycle assessment specialist c7-consult now confirm efficient production at a total of four additional sites in Mexico and Germany. There, ALPLArecycling produces rPET and rHDPE, which produces up to 87 per cent fewer carbon emissions than virgin materials.
‘The figures confirm our path. We produce climate-friendly recycling solutions with a regional focus and convert the material into new packaging, thereby promoting the bottle-to-bottle loop. In this way, we ensure there are safe, affordable and sustainable packaging solutions all over the world,’ emphasises Georg Lässer, Director of Business Development, Procurement and Sales, Recycling, at ALPLA.

Circular economy pioneers in Mexico
ALPLArecycling produces 30,000 tonnes of rHDPE per year at its Toluca recycling plant in Mexico. Production in Toluca causes 0.69 kg of CO2e per kilogram. This is 70 per cent fewer emissions than with HDPE virgin materia kilogram ). ALPLA has been operating what was the first PET recycling plant in Latin America at the time in Toluca since 2005 within the joint venture IMER (Industria Mexicana de Reciclaje S.A. de C.V.) together with Coca-Cola FEMSA and The Coca-Cola Company. It has an annual production capacity of 16,000 tonnes of rPET. According to the analysis, production causes only 0.38 kg of CO2e per kilogram, which is 87 per cent less than virgin PET (2.90 kg of CO2e per kilogram ).

The rPET production capacity in Mexico will be increased to 51,000 tonnes next year. The PLANETA plant (Planta Nueva Ecología de Tabasco) in Cunduacán is currently being built in cooperation with Coca-Cola FEMSA. The joint venture partners are setting new collection priorities with the model of paying for the receipt of used PET bottles and with social cooperations. ‘Recycling is a key element in packaging solutions of the future. We want to convince people of the benefits and are drawing on substantiated data to do so. Exact analysis of our plants also enables us to improve our ecological footprint in a targeted manner,’ explains Carlos Torres Ballesteros, ALPLA Managing Director, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Germany: household recyclables collection
With an annual production capacity of 43,000 tonnes of rPET, ALPLArecycling is one of the largest PET recycling companies in Germany. Materials sourced from household recyclables collection are processed at the site in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Saxony-Anhalt. Unique sorting and processing plants were built worldwide for this purpose in 2019. Recycling PET bottles from household collection leads to a slightly higher energy requirement for washing. For example, Bitterfeld-Wolfen causes 0.93 kg of CO2e per kilogram of rPET. This means the recycled material produces 68 per cent fewer emissions than virgin material. At the PET recycling site in Bad Salzuflen, North Rhine-Westphalia, it is just 0.68 kg of CO2e per kilogram, which corresponds to a reduction of 77 per cent.
ALPLArecycling’s recycling plants in Austria and Poland, for which the PCF was likewise calculated in recent years, prove that there is still potential for optimisation. Through the additional use of renewable energy, rPET can produce a footprint of up to 0.21 kg of CO2e per kilogram, which corresponds to a reduction of up to 93 per cent. Switching to renewable energy is currently also being considered for plants in other countries.

About the ALPLA Group
ALPLA is one of the world’s leading companies in the manufacture and recycling of plastic packaging. Around 23,300 employees worldwide produce custom-made packaging systems, bottles, caps and moulded parts at 190 sites across 46 countries. The high-quality packaging is used in a wide range of areas, including for food and drinks, cosmetics and care products, household cleaning products, detergents and cleaning agents, pharmaceutical products, engine oils and lubricants.
ALPLA operates recycling plants for PET and HDPE in Austria, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Romania and Thailand. Other projects are being realised elsewhere around the world.www.alpla.com

About ALPLArecycling
With approximately 23,300 employees, 190 sites and annual sales of 5.1 billion euros (2022), the ALPLA Group is one of the world’s leading companies in the production and recycling of plastic packaging. In the ALPLArecycling division, the company operates state-of-the-art recycling plants at 13 locations around the world and works with customers to develop sustainable packaging solutions that contain up to 100 per cent PCR. The annual installed and projected output capacity amounts to 266,000 tonnes of recycled PET (rPET) and 84,000 tonnes of recycled HDPE (rHDPE).
www.alplarecycling.com

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