Los miembros de #BreakFreeFromPlastic, optimistas por el borrador cero para un tratado global de plásticos, piden negociaciones ambiciosas

By Kaziro Douglas, Bio Vision Africa, Uganda.

The 19th ordinary session of the Africa Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) took place from 14-18 August 2023 at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa.  The session’s theme was Seizing opportunities and enhancing collaboration to address environmental challenges in Africa.  Prior to the meeting, UNEP major groups and Stakeholders (CSOs) held a meeting at Capital Hotel in Ethiopia on 12-13 August 2023 and drafted a Major Groups and Stakeholders statement which was read to the Ministers during the main session. 

AMCEN was established in December 1985, with a mandate of providing advocacy for environmental protection in Africa and ensuring that basic human needs are met adequately and in a sustainable manner.

The discussions for the 19^th session focused on the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change  (COP28) and the Africa Climate Summit (ACS), the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEA6); Africa’s participation in the development of an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution (INC process); Africa’s preparations for the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification; preparations for the fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management, the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and implementation of 18^th  AMCEN decisions. 

I was a participant with support from GAIA, My focus was mainly on Africa’s participation in the development of an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution (INC process), AMC 18/6 decision on phasing out opening burning in Africa, preparations for the fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management, and most of my engagements pretty much nearly 90% were on the plastic treaty work. It was an interesting learning experience with good information to take home as a first-time participant in AMCEN meetings. 

Key highlights from the meeting included declarations, decisions and key messages adopted by the session notably the decision 19/2 African participation in the development of an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, which relates directly to our work and a declaration to appreciate the work of the African Group of Negotiators on plastics, and urged member states to support the African position on the establishment of a legally binding instrument. 

By and large, the discussions were fruitful, with few contestations from some countries, especially on the issue of raw materials for plastics being considered as plastics.  Also, there was a considerable representation from countries in the Global South. It’s important to mention that, going forward, the draft documents from this session can provide good information for our advocacy work as Civil Society organizations as we continue engaging with our National Focal Points within our various countries and ensure that the language and other key components that we desire to be in the Plastic treaty are well captured.

Ends.

No More Empty Promises

By Ndyamuhaki Isaac, Green Africa Youth Organization Uganda, Circular Economy Programs Manager.

Uganda’s communities and people find themselves in the clutches of top-polluting corporations. Incidentally, plastic pollution is an injustice to the environment, wildlife, climate, human health and general social life, making it a growing global problem. Research shows that approximately 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced between 1950-2017 became plastic waste, ending up in landfills or dumped. Plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change, and directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food value chains and social well-being. 

Brand Audits elevate people’s understanding of the structural causes of plastic pollution, gather hard data proving that corporations are responsible for producing excessive amounts of single-use plastic packaging and reveal the disproportionate harm these corporations are causing to vulnerable communities. In 2018 when the first brand audit was carried out, unique achievements, challenges and breakthroughs were realized, putting a spotlight on major plastic-polluting companies across global and local scales.

End Plastic Pollution conducted a brand audit on River Rwizi in Mbarara City in 2021/ This generated significant evidence of a flowing river with plastics where 56 brands and 32 companies were identified as visibly damaging the river with plastic waste. The top polluting brands were The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsi, and BIDCO Africa, as well as Mbarara-based companies like Yausafi Ventures and Ice Love Company.

The 2022 brand audit carried out on the showers of lake victoria and Kireka landfill jointly conducted by Green Africa Youth Organization Uganda and End Plastic Pollution was the most significant year for brand audits. The global plastic pollution crisis marked the 5th Anniversary of the global brand audits. This brand revealed a remarkable consistency of results; year after year, the same Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies with the largest market share are generating the most plastics polluting the environment. A total of 32 companies were exposed, with The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsi and Unilever making the top three polluters. Six hundred fifty-six items were audited, 49% were food packaging, and 11% were personal care products. By material type, 49% of the items audited were PET, and 22% were HDPE. 

Through these brand audits, key findings contained the contribution of the brands and the key players in plastic pollution in  Kampala and Mbarara cities. A total of 1487 plastic items were collected and sorted. It was found that 137 brands produced by  39 parent companies were responsible for the plastic waste collected. By material type, 673 items were PET bottles, 424 items were HDPE bottles, and other items, including sachets and baby diapers, were 273.  The exercise also found 97 unbranded items, including plastic footwear and plastic cutlery. The Coca-Cola Company was the biggest plastic polluter with 312 items found,  followed by Pepsi with 124 items, BIDCO Africa with 115 items found,  Unilever in fourth place with 107 items and Mukwano Industries fifth with 99 items.

However, less than 10% of all the plastic ever produced globally has been recycled. According to the plastic coalition, 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels and their production is poised to quadruple by 2050. There exists, therefore, a dire need to control plastic pollution before the entire ecosystem is eaten up and rendered inhabitable. 

This audit proposed various recommendations to different stakeholders in Uganda: The corporations were recommended to freely reveal and share information about the true extent of their plastic footprint, reduce the amounts of plastics they produce and also redesign their packaging to involve reusable material. The government was recommended to hold accountable the corporate polluters, as voluntary commitments seemed to have failed; to ensure that no new plastics are produced. It was also tasked to invest in waste reduction measures and zero-waste systems that are in line with the national climate action plans. Plastic pollution is one of the greatest threats to life and the ecosystem. There is, therefore, a need for an immediate response, especially in holding accountable the perpetrators of plastic pollution. 

ENDS.

Sachets are low-value multi-layered single-use plastic; they are used to sell small and cheap quantities of products like shampoo, detergent, condiments and coffee. According to GAIA Asia Pacific’s Sachet Economy: “Sachets are widely perceived as affordable, convenient, and indispensable, but only because their true costs are externalised, unaccounted for by corporations that have profited handsomely from the sachet economy, and disproportionately paid for by society.” In Nigeria alone, the UN Environment Programme reports that 50-60 million used water sachets are discarded every day. Civil Society Organisations across the world are calling for the phasing out of sachets and the scaling up of reusable alternatives to plastic products.

End Plastic Pollution, Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development, Association de l’Education Environnementale pour les Futures Générations, groundWork, and Green Africa Youth Organisation share their thoughts on the state of sachets in Africa. 

End Plastic Pollution, Nirere Sadrach

Big brands are extending the huge cost of cleaning up and managing waste to communities that cannot afford it. Local communities do not have the infrastructure to collect this waste, and yet if you cannot collect enough of a waste product, it cannot be repurposed, reused or even recycled.

Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development,  Sarah Onuoha

Sachet plastic pollution, especially the pure water sachets, is a lake without an end in Nigeria.

Association de l’Education Environnementale pour les Futures Générations, Semia Gharbi

In Tunisia, 4.2 billion sachets are consumed annually, of which one billion are produced locally and then thrown away in the environment because they can’t be recycled. The Ministry of Environment decided to ban the use of sachets in bakeries, to decrease the use of sachets. It was a good step, but more is needed. Unfortunately, in Tunisia, we don’t see these big multinational brands acting in favour of protecting the environment by decreasing the use of plastic.

Furthermore, sachets impact waste pickers. Waste pickers must spend additional time and effort sorting out these non-recyclable items, which slows down their work and reduces their productivity. Unrecyclable plastics directly impact their income and financial stability as they offer waste pickers limited or no economic returns. Sachets, especially bulky or non-compact items, add weight to the waste collected by waste pickers. This increases waste pickers’ transportation and storage costs, as they need more time, effort, and resources to manage larger volumes of unrecyclable plastics. Moreover, these types of plastic, particularly those that are sharp, contaminated by toxic substances, or hazardous, can pose health and safety risks and exposure to waste pickers.

groundWork, Asiphile Khanyile

The plastic crisis’s lasting impacts have already been externalised onto the communities and natural environment (land and marine). It’s a game of profits versus the people. Sachets are hard to separate, sort and recycle due to their nature of multilayered materials. Not only that, sachets cause drain blockages (increasing the rate of flooding), litter, and harm animals. Since they are multilayered, they are hard to recycle and take more than 100 years to biodegrade. The waste belonging to multinational corporations ends up overburdening the waste management systems of countries, especially those in the developing world, because of their failure to provide adequate and effective services and systems in place to deal with this waste. The unrecyclable plastic makes waste pickers work for longer because they have to sort through unwanted waste. The argument is that we do not produce what we do not need. Waste pickers are also on the frontline of waste management; whether it is in (landfills, dumpsites, communities and on the streets) hence, they are exposed to other unsafe conditions.

Green Africa Youth Organisation

Richard Matey, The impact of the big brands failing to pay a levy to support the collection of their plastic products is the evidence of increased flooding of homes and communities as the drainages systems are chocked with plastics from these big brands. These plastic products have become a nuisance to sanitation leading to the spread of malaria and other diseases.

Efua Nyamekye Appiah, The double standards displayed by multinational corporations continuously exacerbated plastic pollution and its detrimental effects on the environment. These corporations actively produce and promote single-use plastics while simultaneously sponsoring global climate conferences like COP; for instance, at COP27, the was a lot of discussion on sponsorship by Coca-Cola, with an intent to create an illusion of environmental responsibility. This hypocritical approach prioritises short-term profits over long-term sustainability and hinders efforts to address the plastic pollution crisis. Additionally, the lack of corporate accountability, coupled with deceptive greenwashing practices, further contributes to the problem, increasing the monetary value of such organization and their scope but adversely affecting vulnerable communities facing huge plastic waste problems. Plastic pollution poses severe threats to wildlife, ecosystems, and human health, necessitating stricter regulations and greater corporate responsibility to curb plastic production, usage, and disposal. Addressing these challenges requires genuine commitment from governments, civil society, and consumers to hold.

Muzzafar-Din Essel, In Ghana, informal waste pickers face several difficulties in managing unrecyclable plastics. Among these, there is competition from the formal waste management sector where informal waste pickers independently collecting and selling recyclables are only able to make minimum value out of the waste collected because unrecyclable plastics are mixed with valuable recyclables while formal waste management companies that have advanced sorting technologies and infrastructure get all the value there is. Additionally, waste pickers are in direct line of health hazards. Unrecyclable plastics usually include items like single-use bags, styrofoam containers, or other types of packaging materials that are not only non-recyclable but can also pose health hazards to waste pickers. For example, burning unrecyclable plastics to reduce volume can release harmful toxins and pollutants into the air, leading to respiratory issues and other health problems for waste pickers.

ENDS.