Plastic Free at Christmas is one of the campaigns of local action group Plastic Free Settle. This comes in the same week as a UN conference on a proposed treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed to reach agreement despite representatives of 200 nations meeting in Busan, South Korea.
Settle’s Plastic Free Group is working on reducing our dependence on single use plastics. For the festive season the Group have a plastic free Christmas tree in the Quaker Meeting House garden highlighting ways of being plastic free this Christmas.
In 2022, the world’s nations agreed that a global treaty was needed to tackle the issue of plastic pollution particularly the impacts on the marine environment – and given the urgency decided that it should be completed within two years. But deep divisions remained between a group of nearly 100 “high ambition” countries calling for plastic to be phased out and oil-producing nations who warned this would affect the world’s development.
“The objective of this treaty is to end plastic pollution not plastic itself, plastic has brought immense benefit to societies worldwide,” said the Kuwait negotiators in the final hours. However, they would seem not to be aware that the world produces more than 400 million tons of new plastic annually and plastic production could climb about 70 per cent by 2040 without policy changes.
Plastic-producing and oil and gas countries such as Saudi Arabia dug their heels in, calling instead for a treaty focusing on better plastic waste management and recycling. Meanwhile worldwide waterways and seas, drains, communities and farmlands are choked with plastics and dumping sites full of plastics are always on fire. There is also a serious effect on human health.
Most of the negotiations in Busan took place behind closed doors. Environmental groups, Indigenous leaders and others who travelled to Busan to help shape the treaty said it should have been transparent and they felt silenced. The only thing delegates could agree on was to resume talks at a later date.
You can also view aspects of the conference here.
Greenpeace commenting on the outcome said that organisations taking part in ‘The Big Plastic Count’, which ACE has done in the last two years, ‘have had an instrumental part in making plastic reduction a priority. Thanks to your support, the UK government stood firm and didn’t cave to lobbying from the plastics industry. Over 100 countries have now agreed that the Treaty needs plastic reduction targets – and refused to accept a weak Treaty without those targets. Our pressure helped the UK delegation stand firm alongside these countries, and our support is now stronger than ever. This means when negotiations resume in 2025, we can push to get the strong Global Plastics Treaty we need’.
ACE will be taking part again in ‘The Big Plastic Count’ in 2025. In the meantime, read more about the results from this year’s count here.
Read more about Plastic Free Settle on our Food Group page here.