Talks to deal with plastic begin in Canada this week. Here’s what’s at stake

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From ghost fishing gear drifting in the ocean to containers that end up in landfills, plastic now turns up nearly everywhere, including Arctic zooplankton and human placentas.

This week in Ottawa, delegates from 174 countries will meet in the hopes of stemming the plastic tide, as Canada hosts the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, or INC-4.

That committee, which falls under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Program, was set up in 2022 with the goal of crafting an international, legally binding plastics treaty by the end of 2024. The Ottawa session is the last set of negotiations before the fifth and final session, scheduled for November in South Korea. So, the stakes are high, with delegates under pressure to nail down terms to regulate a substance used in everything from cars to medical equipment while coming up with ways to ensure that less of it winds up in oceans or landfills.

In an April 18 statement, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault called the talks “a historic opportunity to tackle the global plastics crisis.” In addition to hosting the talks, Canada is also a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a group of countries that banded together in 2022 under the banner of ending plastic pollution by 2040.

Concerns about plastic pollution have been around for decades and have increased as the volume of plastics grows. Under a business-as-usual scenario, plastic production and waste are set to triple by 2060, and up to 37 million tonnes of plastic pollution could be entering our oceans every year by 2040, according to Environment Canada.

There is also growing concern around microplastics, including tiny shards that break off from larger pieces in the ocean or on land.

Researchers first reported finding microplastics in human placentas in 2020. A 2024 study in Toxicological Sciences found microplastics in all of 62 placenta samples tested. Researchers are looking for ways to prevent the particles from winding up in the environment and, potentially, in the bodies of living things, including humans.

The Ottawa talks will host representatives from member states as well as observers, including scientists, environmental groups, corporations and industry associations.

Isabelle Des Chênes, executive vice-president of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada and a delegate at the talks, will be looking for a cradle-to-grave approach.

“What we would like to see are policies and requirements that help accelerate that circular economy, so it gives the industry those demand signals and allows us to free up that investment and innovation,” she said.

Manufacturers are more likely to shift to products that are meant to be reused, or that contain greater recycled content, if there are systems for collecting, sorting and processing such goods, along with national targets for, say, recycled content, Ms. Des Chênes said.

Non-governmental groups are calling for mandatory targets that address the full life cycle of plastics, including production, rather than focusing primarily on waste management.

“We know that if business as usual is able to continue, then plastic production could triple by 2050 – and with increased production comes increased impact, and more concern about plastics’ contribution to the triple planetary crisis,” said Sarah King, head of oceans and plastics campaigns with Greenpeace Canada.

The triple planetary crisis refers to the linked effects of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, of which seven billion tonnes have become waste.

Humanity now produces 430 million tonnes of plastic per year, the organization says, with two-thirds of that contained in short-lived products that become waste.

Rocky Vermani, senior vice-president with Nova Chemicals, said the treaty requires collaborative action from governments, industry and non-governmental organizations.

While plastic is expected to be a key component of energy, construction, health care and other sectors, Mr. Vermani said that, “At the end of the day, we all agree that plastics don’t belong in the environment from a pollution perspective.”

“What we want to keep focused on, is how do we minimize that plastic in the environment.”