In Shift, US Backs Global Target To Reduce Plastic Production

WASHINGTON, DC (REUTERS) – The US, one of the world’s biggest plastic makers, will support a global treaty calling for a reduction in how much new plastic is produced each year in a major policy shift, a source close to US negotiators said on August 14.

The change away from its earlier calls to leave such decisions up to each country puts the US in direct opposition to countries like Saudi Arabia and China.

Those countries have argued that the hoped-for United Nations treaty, which negotiators are scheduled to conclude at a November summit in Busan, South Korea, should ignore questions of production and focus on downstream measures, such as encouraging recycling and changing packaging design.

The Busan talks will take place after the presidential elections.

The policy shift also puts the U.S. in closer alignment with a group of so-called high ambition countries that includes EU member states, South Korea, Canada, Rwanda and Peru and has called for a global plastics treaty to cap and phase down the production of plastic.

The group has also targeted a list of chemicals of environmental concern used in plastic production that should be eliminated.

The US now also supports working to create a possible global list of chemicals that should be phased out to avoid a “patchwork” of different national requirements, as well as set global criteria to identify what should be on a list of “avoidable plastic products” to phase out, the source said.

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