QUEZON CITY, Philippines (23 April 2024) — A global treaty that cuts plastic production and ends single-use plastic pollution is still within reach and governments have a duty to do all they can to secure it, said Greenpeace International and community representatives at a press conference today. Campaigners and activists from impacted communities, including the Philippines, said Member States must ensure the fourth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) meeting in Ottawa this week secures an ambitious Global Plastics Treaty that reduces plastic production and ends single-use plastics.
“People want a livable planet free of plastic pollution—and that’s what the Global Plastics treaty needs to deliver. As plastic production rises, the impacts across the plastic lifecycle on our health, environment, and climate intensify, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable groups and the Global South” said Marian Ledesma, Greenpeace Philippines Zero Waste Campaigner, who is part of the Greenpeace International INC-4 delegation. “Our recent Greenpeace International poll shows that people—particularly in the Philippines and Global South—recognize what’s at stake. To maintain a livable planet and an equitable future for all, the treaty must cut plastic production by 75% by 2040 and transition to a reuse-based economy.”
Earlier this month, a Greenpeace International poll report revealed that 94 percent of Filipino respondents support cutting plastic production. The survey, which was conducted across 19 countries, also showed almost 9 in 10 Filipinos support a ban on single-use plastic packaging.
Reacting to this, communities here in the Philippines voiced their support for a strong plastics treaty that prioritizes the interests of those most vulnerable to plastic impacts, particularly in the Global South.
“Ang plastic pollution ay isa sa mga malalaking problema sa ating mundo ngayon, pati na rin dito sa aming lugar. Nakakapagdulot siya ng baha sa aming kalsada at kadalasan naaapektuhan ang schedule ng aming collection at monitoring,” said Aloja Santos, Founding President of the newly formed Philippine National Waste Workers’ Alliance (PNWWA), and President of Dumaguete Women Waste Workers Association. “Sumasang-ayon ako na ibalik ang refill at reuse para mabawasan ang mga basura at maibalik ang ating kinalakhan na tradisyon […] Ang kasunduang ipapatupad ay dapat bigyan ng ipin upang malimitahan ang paggamit ng plastic at hindi na makadagdag sa kasalukuyang polusyon.”
(Plastic pollution is one of the big problems in our world now, including in our area. It causes floods in our streets and usually affects the schedule of our [waste] collection and monitoring. I agree with returning to refill and reuse to reduce waste and bring back the tradition we grew up with. The treaty that will be implemented should have teeth, so plastic use can be limited and not add to the current pollution.)
“Bilang mga mangingisda, susuportahan namin ang mga kasunduan at mga polisiya na naglalayong limitahan and pag-produce ng mga single-use na plastic,” said Edlyn Rosales, Chairperson of the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Mangingisda Pangisda (PANGISDA)-Bataan. “Dahil sa mga malalaking producer lang nakasalalay ang dami ng produksyon, naniniwala ako na ang pangunahing dahilan ng pagkakaroon ng plastic pollution ay walang iba kung hindi ang mga corporations na ito. Ang pag-unti-unting pagbabawas nito ay isang napakalaking ginhawa sa aming mga mangingisda.”
(As fisherfolk, we support treaties and policies seeking to limit single-use plastic production. Because the amount of [plastic] produced relies on the big [plastic] producers, I believe that the main reason why plastic pollution exists is none other than these corporations. The gradual reduction [of plastics] is a great relief to us fisherfolk.)
Recognizing that the Global Plastics Treaty is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the plastic pollution crisis head-on, Greenpeace demands that at INC-4, Member States:
- Ensure that an option for a global target to reduce primary plastic polymer production is retained in the text. There is a risk that as we begin serious negotiations on text that ambitious countries will concede to bad-faith countries in this area.
- Ensure that targets for reduction, reuse, and refill are retained as an option in the text.
- Given the slow progress so far, Member States must move into actual negotiation of the treaty text. A first step will be states working to consolidate the many options in the revised Zero Draft, and we are expecting states to submit in-session documents like conference room papers (CRPs) with concrete proposals.
- Ensure that there is a mandate to create the first draft of the treaty text, which was one of the failures of INC-3 held last November 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya.
“As a resident of Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, I experience first-hand the devastating impact plastic production has on the health and environment of Frontline communities,” said Jo Banner of The Descendants Project. “A treaty failing to limit plastic production is a continuation of our country’s deadly tradition, which harkens back to the days of the enslavement of my ancestors, of enriching others through the sacrificing of Black bodies, other people of color, and low-income communities.
In the Philippines, Greenpeace is demanding that:
- The Philippine government ensures a strong regulatory framework that addresses plastic pollution at the root by looking at the complete lifecycle of plastics, instead of just focusing on waste management.
- Alongside existing measures such as the local government ordinances, and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, the government should mandate, and provide strong support for, reuse and refill systems.
- The EPR Act should be revised and strengthened to change its focus from plastic waste recovery and disposal to the reduction of plastic production in order to make it an effective law.
- Corporations must change the way they do business and enact widespread systemic changes on what materials they rely on, as well as on their product delivery systems. To begin with, they need to start phasing out sachet packaging, and then drastically reduce and eventually eliminate the production of disposable plastic packaging and products.
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Notes:
Greenpeace demands for a Global Plastics Treaty can be found here.
Photos and videos are available from the Greenpeace Media Library.
Link to recorded press conference here.
Media Contacts:
Philippines: Maverick Flores, Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Philippines
[email protected], +63 917 6211552
International: Angelica Carballo Pago, Global Plastics Campaign Media Lead, Greenpeace USA
[email protected], +63 917 1124492 (also in Ottawa, Canada)