Advocate for Sustainability, Strategy & Entrepreneurship
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UN Member States started negotiations in March 2022 on a new global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. More than two and a half years later, this past week's summit in Busan was supposed to be when the treaty would be finalised. But it's not to be. According to Politico, the oil-rich plastic-producing nations blocked any caps on plastic production, which halted the treaty train in Busan. Multilateral agreements are complex and slow, which means forward-looking nations should move ahead and implement policies that reduce production and consumption of plastics along the whole value chain. Implementing a charge on consumers for single-use plastics has been highly effective in many countries. In Singapore, supermarket operators reported a 70% to 80% decrease in the carrier bags used since the mandatory 5c charge was introduced in July 2023. There are two other policies that the SG government should consider. First, mandate the use of recycled resin for plastic products sold locally, similar to the EU legislation that requires 25% recycled plastic by 2025 and 30% by 2030 for PET bottles. This creates a steady market demand for circularity. Second, provide authoritative science-based advice on the types of carrier bags and food packaging that are less environmentally harmful in SG. This would dispel misconceptions and clarify debates (such as whether paper is better than plastic bags). Context is important because we burn most of our waste and there's little or no composting done. In 2016, the National Environment Agency commissioned the National University of Singapore to conduct a lifecycle assessment (LCA) of the environmental impacts of different types of packaging. A useful factsheet was published in 2018 (https://lnkd.in/gDucbemt). It's timely to do a follow up LCA and publicise the findings. To do things right, we first need to know for sure what are the right things. #tackleplasticpollution #lifecycleassessment