Joint Statement from Thai Civil Society Organisations on the Negotiations of the “Global Plastic Treaty”
13 Novemnber 2024
160 civil society organisations and academic groups call on the Royal Thai Government and governments around the world to develop an ambitious Global Plastics Treaty that aims to end plastic pollution throughout its entire life cycle, with a primary focus on the environment, human rights, and human health.
Plastic currently pollutes every corner of the world, from mount Everest, to the deepest ocean trenches, to the bodies of animals and humans alike. Throughout its life cycle, plastics severely impact the environment, human health and society. Its impact begin from the extraction of fossil fuels or the cultivation of plants for raw materials, and continue through the production phases in the petrochemical sector, to the transportation of plastics and related chemicals, to the use and consumption in everyday life, to the post-consumption phases including recycling and disposal. Plastic pollution occurs in various forms, from scraps of plastics to ghost gears in the ocean, to microplastics and nanoplastics too small to see with the naked eye, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) used as additives and released during the dismantling and recycling of used products, ashes from open burning or PM2.5 from the emissions of waste incinerators and waste-to-energy power plants. Plastics and activities throughout their life cycle also generate greenhouse gases and are a significant factor in the ongoing climate crisis.
Ending plastic pollution is a mission we all share. This mission must not be limited to improving waste management, but must extend to ending plastic pollution throughout its life cycle and the reduction of plastic production.
The period from now to the end of 2024 is a pivotal moment for this shared mission. The 2022 United Nations Environmental Assembly Resolution (UNEA Resolution 5/14) set in motion the process of establishing an international legally binding instrument based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastics. The instrument is now widely known as “The Global Plastic Treaty” and is set to be completed this year.
The Global Plastic Treaty has the potential to be an instrument that will mandate all nations to address plastic pollution with vigour and under robust targets. The ongoing negotiation to draft this instrument is an opportunity for all people to help shape this global mandate.
We are three civil society organisations working to end plastic pollution from various dimensions in Thailand, including the Environmental Justice Foundation Thailand (EJF), Greenpeace Thailand and Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (EARTH Thailand). We are calling upon the Royal Thai Government to cooperate with fellow nations engaged in the ongoing intergovernmental negotiating committee meetings in creating a Global Plastic Treaty that is ambitious, contains clear timeframes for implementation, includes a sustainable, transparent, and just financial mechanism and instrument, and ensures the participation of all sectors, with the goal of achieving the following 10 targets:
1. Reduce plastic production to sustainable levels for consumption and the environment, and eliminate problematic and avoidable plastics.
2. Eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals throughout the lifecycle of plastics, and consider safe alternatives that do not harm the environment or human health.
3. Establish infrastructures for reducing plastic use, developing safe and standardised reuse, refilling, and repairing ecosystems that are accessible to all.
4. Enact laws that extend the responsibilities of producers and key stakeholders to eliminate unnecessary plastics, expand systems for reuse, refilling, and repair, and ensure product designs support environmentally and socially responsible recycling processes within the country. These measures should address impacts across the entire plastic life cycle and include compensation for environmental damage caused.
5. Ensure transparency in chemical reporting by requiring plastic producers to disclose chemical information used in raw materials and products and creating a publicly accessible chemical and pollutant release and transfer register for plastics-related industries.
6. Set global standards for end-of-life plastic management that emphasise reduction at source, ban plastic incineration, and set strict environmentally and socially sound standards for waste management, including recycling and energy recovery, with the aim of protecting the environment and human rights.
7. Guard against false solutions, including but not limited to dirty recycling , expansion of the waste-to-energy industry and facilities, and alternative plastics that can lead to other problems.
8. Do not support transboundary movement of used plastics and the export of polluting technologies, which shift pollution burdens to developing countries.
9. Mandate environmental restoration, compensation, and improvement of the quality of life for those impacted by plastic pollution.
10. Ensure a just transition, with the involvement of stakeholders from all sectors, including communities facing social, economic, and health impact from plastics, workers and those engaged in activities associated with plastics, in designing a pollution-free future, with the ultimate goal of securing human rights and human dignity for all.
“We cannot deny that plastic production is currently unsustainable,” Salisa Traipipitsiriwat, senior campaigner at Environmental Justice Foundation Thailand (EJF) said. “Primary plastic production reduction may be challenging, but not addressing or saying it is impossible is not the solution. Rather, we need to bring together experts to find a solution on this matter. This will make Thailand a leader that brings about changes on the INC-5 stage, through cooperations with other countries to set a target to reduce plastic production to a sustainable level under a clear timeframe.”
“Greenpeace calls on Thai delegates to support reduction of plastic production, implement policies to support reuse ecosystem, and provide less support to single-use plastics from fossil fuel industries. We call on the government to address the climate crisis to protect all lives on Earth, driving changes towards a low-carbon and toxic-free future with a circular economy based on reuse,” Pichmol Rugrod, Greenpeace Thailand’s Plastics-Free Future Project Leader added.
Supawan Srirattana, Trash Hero Thailand’s country coordinator said: “As a representative of Trash Hero, an independent organization driven by the work of volunteers, who continues to push for community-level changes across the world, with an aim to support and strengthen efforts to prevent and address waste pollution, especially plastic pollution, we have worked mainly at local levels. However, a true and sustainable solution must come from producer’s responsibility and strong laws. This will ensure that the solutions to plastic pollution are driven with consistency across the world.”
“The production of plastics from past to present have used over 13,000 chemicals, 3,000 of which are toxic to humans and could cause diseases such as cancer. These chemicals must be strictly controlled or banned. Safe alternatives must be found. These measures must be implemented carefully and comprehensively on a global scale. A solution to the problem to toxic and hazardous chemicals in plastics lies in a global legally-binding instrument. It is time for a global plastics treaty” Thitikorn Boontongmai, Toxic Waste and Industrial Pollution Program Manager at EARTH Thailand concluded.
Photos by Naratip Thongtanom, EARTH Thailand
