Civil groups urge govt to back global plastics treaty

Civil society organisations (CSOs) have called on the government to take action against plastic pollution and show its support for a global treaty on plastics.
Twenty representatives from 160 CSOs made the call in a letter submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on Wednesday.
They called for drastic government action to end the perennial plastic waste problem.
Salisa Traipipitsiriwat, senior campaigner and SEA Plastics Project Manager of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said the world community will keep a close watch on the plastic pollution meeting in Busan, South Korea, from Nov 25 to Dec 1.
The meeting is expected to conclude negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution.
Ms Salisa said the meeting would be the fifth round of negotiations. Nations have been trying to craft a legally binding global treaty that will tackle plastic pollution.
The fast-tracked negotiation process is due to end with this month’s meeting in South Korea.
She said the global community has high hopes of getting a positive result from the meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) of the United Nations.
“To achieve the goal, we would like to encourage the government to show support for the draft, which will be a significant instrument to achieve justice and build up a mechanism for natural rehabilitation,” Ms Salisa said.
The fifth round of negotiations will develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including at sea (Plastic Pollution INC-5).
The instrument will be based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal.
The INC began its work in the second half of 2022 and aims to complete its work by the end of this year.
The CSOs have also called for concrete action to reduce the volume of plastic production and cease any unnecessary production.