By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@Shutterstock.
Minister of Forestry Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy affirmed that South Africa remains resolute in supporting global efforts to end plastic pollution.
In 2022, South Africa supported the development of an internationally legally binding instrument to combat plastic pollution at the Fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment will participate in the fourth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) meeting to be held in Ottawa, Canada, from April 23 to 29, as well as at a subsequent meeting to be held in early December.
With only 85 hours of negotiating time available during the April meeting to secure such a treaty, South Africa will recommend that a lifecycle approach to plastic production, use, recycling and disposal be agreed upon in the first draft of the text of the agreement.
Plastics were versatile and saw use in food preservation, healthcare and automotive industries, among others, but plastics posed risks to human health and ecosystem functioning, Creecy emphasised.
We strive for the most ambitious solution that can accommodate all parties. This is because international agreements are party-driven, and individual countries have different demands and challenges. Therefore, we have to try to balance the many competing interests in this space,” she said during an engagement on April 12 with South African industrial, environmental, civil society, informal sector and local government stakeholders prior to the INC-4 meeting.
South Africa has a significant plastics industry that is targeted for growth as part of industrial policy to provide economic and employment growth. Therefore, it is incumbent on the country to ensure that, as the industry grows, it happens in a socially, environmentally and economically sustainable manner.
The management of plastics across their full lifecycles from manufacturing, use and final disposal is, therefore, of central importance, said Creecy.
“Our negotiating position, as mandated by Cabinet, rests on the Constitution and aims to protect current and future generations,” she noted.
The negotiations’ obligatory measures include supporting and strengthening waste management services to prevent plastic leaking into the environment, as well as emphasising waste collection and improving recycling systems through the development of extended producer responsibility schemes to collect, reuse and recycle plastic waste with the aim of promoting a circular economy in the plastic industry, among others.
The third obligatory measure included promoting public awareness and clean-up campaigns to remove plastic waste from rivers, wetlands and beaches, she said.
More action was warranted to tackle plastic pollution, Creecy added.
“Building on the principles established from INC-3 to guide our negotiations, the best available science is needed to guide the criteria to inform priority plastic products and their impact on our environment. This scientific information is needed to conclude the annexes of this instrument.
“Additionally, information sharing on chemicals of concern that are used in plastic production needs to be managed in an open and transparent manner,” she said.
Further, new global obligations that will be introduced imply that South Africa needs to domesticate these obligatory and regulatory controls to end plastic pollution.
“The obligatory and regulatory measures to curb plastic pollution need to be supported by equally ambitious means of implementation. A financial mechanism that would ensure predictable and adequate financial resources would assist in curbing plastic pollution in developing countries,” the Minister said.
“INC-4 provides a platform to streamline the textual options and conclude with obligatory measures that can be agreed to at the fifth session of the INC.”
Meanwhile, the challenges of balancing competing interests in terms of plastics pollution and marine litter were highlighted by the discussions among the various stakeholders.
The plastics and chemicals industry representatives highlighted various challenges in terms of a lack of waste collection, while civil society and environmental representatives proposed that plastics and polymer production caps be introduced to drive greater use of recycled materials in plastic products.