Major brands, NGOs endorse new global plastics treaty

A group of global businesses in the plastics value chain, financial institutions, and non-governmental associations have banded together to launch what’s being called the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty.

Convened by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and WWF, the initiative includes some of the world’s most well-known brands, including Nestlé, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Co., 3M, Danone, Mars Inc., and Unilever, as well as Henkel and Borealis; a small group of NGOs, including Business for Nature and Circular Australia, have also signed on.

In total, 85 companies that have signed on to support the initiative, which – according to a Sept. 21 statement – aims to “accelerate progress toward a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste or pollution, and the value of products and materials is retained in the economy.”

“A Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty will push strongly for a framework that leaves the business-as-usual approach at the door and ushers us into a new era where ending plastic pollution is finally within reach,” said WWF’s Erin Simon, vice president and head of plastic waste and business.

Ahead of the first Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee meeting scheduled for the end of November this year, the endorsing organizations call for progress in such areas as reduction of plastic production and use through a circular economy approach, increased circulation of necessary plastic, and preventing micro- and macro-plastic leakage into the environment.

The treaty builds on a United Nations resolution to end plastic pollution that was unanimously adopted on March 2, 2022, during a UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi.

The treaty negotiation process is expected to conclude at the end of 2024.