Today, negotiations on a Global Plastics Treaty broke down after a three year negotiation period – but, what is it and what does this mean?
The legally binding Global Plastics Treaty has been in consideration since 2022. It initially promised to phase out highly polluting plastic products and create packaging design requirements to reduce the amount of plastic used, amongst other things.
Professor Richard Thompson, speaking at this year’s negotiations in Geneva, described the shocking effects on the planet of plastic pollution, saying: ‘It is really clear [that] to protect future generations we need to take decisive action now on a treaty to address plastic pollution.’
In 2020, the British Beauty Council’s Courage to Change report found that packaging makes up 70% of the beauty industry’s waste – much of which is plastic.
Startlingly, it also found 120 billion units of packaging are produced by the global cosmetics industry each year, with British people using 1.1 billion plastic-heavy wet wipes and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds each year.
It is essential, therefore, that across the board an agreement is reached on the limits on how much plastic packaging and waste businesses can reasonably be expected to use.
First proposed in 2022, the Global Plastics Treaty would bring together 175 countries committed to implementing the changes. However, as talks broke down today, many countries disagreed on the parameters of the treaty. It’s thought that some countries felt that the Treaty didn’t go far enough to limit the use of plastics, while others felt that it went too far and limited business opportunities.
Ultimately, however, what is clear is that as long as states object to the Treaty, the plastics crisis will continue to worsen. The British Beauty Council is committed to reducing the amount of plastics generated by the beauty industry and has worked to tackle the challenge with its Plastic Solutions Summit and Great British Beauty Clean up. You can read more about these initiatives here.
Looking forward, the Treaty will have to be redrafted, renegotiated, and postponed, with some experts suggesting that the breakdown of negotiations may be difficult to recover from. As and when updates are made in relation to the treaty, the Council will keep you updated on how possible changes may affect your business.
