Leading the charge for a Global Plastics Treaty – National Observer

April 29th 2024

Over 4,000 people from around the world have been convening in Ottawa for the fourth round of negotiations on a Global Plastics Treaty and the urgency of reducing plastic pollution cannot be overstated. The world grapples with the devastating impacts of plastic pollution, waste and toxicity, including its dire contribution to the climate crisis.

But to address plastic pollution, we must first reduce plastic production. While Canada has pledged to end plastic pollution, the inconvenient truth remains: plastic production is not only ongoing but expanding, fuelled by government subsidies.

As the host country for these negotiations, Canada faces a critical choice: will it honour its commitment to end plastic pollution or will it succumb to the pressures of the oil and gas industry, sacrificing the health of its citizens and the planet for corporate greed?

The subsidies — which support oil extraction, pipelines and plastic-producing plants — to oil, gas and petrochemical giants like Nova Chemicals, Dow Chemical and Brookfield paint a stark picture of government involvement in perpetuating the plastic crisis.

Because of the massive failure of recycling, at the heart of the negotiations in Ottawa lies the need to reduce plastic production to enable solutions across the entire life cycle. This isn’t just about managing waste or improving recycling, it’s about addressing the root causes of the crisis. This means confronting the impact of plastic’s life cycle, which disproportionately affects communities near where it is produced and the environments from which its raw materials are extracted.

Read More: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/04/29/opinion/leading-charge-global-plastics-treaty