Global treaty to end plastic pollution welcomed by food industry

On 2 March at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in Nairobi, representatives from 175 nations (including Australia) endorsed a resolution to end plastic pollution and develop an international legally binding agreement by 2024.

A committee will now be established to create global rules and obligations to address the full life cycle of plastics, setting standards for the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials, and the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, capacity building and scientific and technical cooperation.

“Today marks a triumph by planet earth over single-use plastics. This is the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord. It is an insurance policy for this generation and future ones, so they may live with plastic and not be doomed by it,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

The Australian Government developed the National Plastics Plan in 2021 to address the plastic pollution problem in Australia and voted in favour of the UN resolution for a legally binding agreement to cover the whole life cycle of plastic by 2024.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) welcomed the news about the development of a global treaty to end plastic pollution.

AFGC CEO Tanya Barden said the Australian food and grocery manufacturing sector has a keen interest in the UN EA resolution and the creation of a circular economy for plastics.

“While plastic is an effective and efficient material for maintaining food and grocery safety, it is important that we design, collect and re-use or recycle plastics to reduce their impact on the environment.

“Addressing plastic pollution, in particular the hard to recycle plastics such as soft plastics (chip packets, bread bags, cereal box liners) is a major focus for Australian food and grocery manufacturers. The AFGC is working with manufacturers to create a National Plastic Recycling Scheme (NPRS) to collect and transform these soft plastics into new food-grade plastic.

“The Australian food, beverage and grocery industry is working to stay ahead of the curve and to ensure that other plastics, in addition to soft plastics, are also collected, recycled and re-used. This also includes adopting the Australasian Recycling Label, redesigning packaging and looking at alternatives,” Barden said.

Australia has National Packaging Targets that include a goal of recycling or composting 70% of plastic packaging by 2025. Food and grocery manufacturers, the waste and recycling industry and plastics manufacturers are committing significant resources to meeting the challenge of addressing plastic waste and meeting the National Packaging Targets.

The UN resolution, titled ‘End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument’, addresses the full life cycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Bits and Splits