India, France to Work to Bolster Talks for Binding Instrument to End Plastic Pollution

India and France on Friday said they would engage constructively with other like-minded countries to advance negotiations for an international, legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. After talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron here, the two countries made a joint commitment to eliminate pollution of single-use plastic products, including banning single-use plastic products which have low utility and high waste potential.

Noting that pollution of plastic products due to scattered plastic waste and mismanagement is a global environmental issue that must be addressed urgently, India and France said that it has negative impacts on ecosystems in general and marine ecosystems in particular.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) defines single-use plastic products as “an umbrella term for various types of products that are normally used once before disposal or recycling,” which includes food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups, cutlery, and shopping bags.

In a joint document expressing a commitment to eliminate pollution from single-use plastic products, the two countries said progress had been made to tackle plastic pollution on a global scale.

“Notable actions include the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, amendments to the Annexes to the Basel Convention to address the issue of transboundary movements of plastic waste, marine litter action plans under the regional seas conventions, and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Action Plan for Marine Litter from Ships,” the document noted.

A series of UNEA resolutions since 2014 have addressed the challenge, and an Ad Hoc Open-ended Expert Group on Marine Litter (AHEG) was established in 2017 by UNEA3 to identify potential solutions. It concluded its work on November 13, 2020, detailing several response options, including developing “definitions for the unnecessary and avoidable use of plastics, including single-use plastics.”

Therefore, there is a need to specifically reduce our consumption of single-use plastic products and to consider alternative solutions, both sides said.

In March 2019, the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) adopted a resolution on “Tackling pollution of single-use plastic products” which “encourages Member States to take action, as appropriate, to enhance the identification and development of environmentally friendly alternatives to single-use plastic products , taking into account the full life-cycle implications of those alternatives,” the document said.

The two countries said single-use plastic products, which have low utility and high garbage disposal, should be phased out and replaced with reusable products based on a circular economy approach. They said that solutions exist and are clearly identified and addressing this problem can lead to new opportunities for innovation, competitiveness and job creation.

India and France said solutions include a ban on single-use plastics where alternatives are readily available and affordable; extension of producer responsibility (EPR) so that producers are responsible for the environmentally sound management of waste; encourage reuse, limit the minimum recycling of plastic packaging waste, and use recycled plastic content; Examining/Monitoring Extended Product Responsibility (EPR) compliance; incentives to help producers design alternatives to single-use plastics; Labeling requirements indicating how waste will be disposed of; and awareness-raising measures.

France and India have renewed their commitment to gradually reduce and eliminate the consumption and production of some single-use plastic products, and cited several steps they have taken to reduce plastic pollution.

(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)