October 30, 2024 14:35

The CEOs of major global companies, members of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, have signed a letter urging governments to secure a strong, actionable agreement aimed at ending plastic pollution.

This call to action aligns with negotiations for a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution, anticipated to continue next month during the fifth session (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea.

As members of the coalition—a group of over 250 companies, financial institutions, and NGOs—the CEOs believe that a robust treaty with binding global regulations offers an opportunity to harmonize legal frameworks, enhance national laws, and support companies in implementing tested solutions in priority areas such as packaging.
According to the signatories, A treaty based on voluntary measures alone risks delaying action by decades. This would create further fragmentation in the regulatory landscape for business, leading to increased cost and complexity.

For businesses to implement an effective treaty, the document outlines the following requirements:

• Global criteria and lists that enable the restriction and phase-out of chemicals of concern, as well as problematic and avoidable plastic products.
• Sector-specific approaches and global criteria for circular product design of plastic products, such as packaging.
• Common definitions and key principles for the effective implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes.
• A strong mandate for the governing body to strengthen the agreement over time.

The CEOs committed to steering their operations toward a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste or pollution, but rather retains value within the economy. "There is already significant alignment on these topics through voluntary industry initiatives, and we remain committed to efforts to advance a circular economy for plastics," reads the letter. "However, it is clear that voluntary efforts alone are not enough to address plastic pollution at scale."

Signatories include Antoine de Saint-Affrique (Danone), Augusto Bauer (AJE), Barbara Martin Coppola (Decathlon), Carsten Knobel (Henkel), Christian Klein (SAP), Fisk Johnson (SC Johnson), Hein Schumacher (Unilever), Jon Abrahamsson Ring (Inter IKEA Group), Kevin Kwilinski (Berry Global), Laurent Freixe (Nestlé), Magnus Groth (Essity), Peter Konieczny (Amcor), Philipp Lehner (Alpla), Poul Weihrauch (Mars), Ramon Laguarta (PepsiCo), Rodrigo Tona (Ternova), Samuel Sigrist (SIG), Stefan Doboczky (Borealis), Surendra Patawari (Gemini Corporation), Tom Daunt (ALDI South Group), Tom Szaky (Terracycle), and Tove Andersen (Tomra).

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