Greenpeace USA calls on the Biden Administration to support treaty addressing the whole lifecycle of plastics

January 20, 2022

In February 2022, national governments, multinationals, and environmental groups will gather for the next session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2), presenting the international community with a unique opportunity to make substantial decisions on plastic pollution. Ahead of the meeting, more than 70 signatories, including some of the world's biggest plastic polluters, signed a statement calling for national governments to implement a global pact addressing the full lifecycle of plastic pollution. Today, the US State Department convened stakeholder consultations to support the development of the US position on a “global plastic treaty.”

© Tim Aubry / Greenpeace

Greenpeace USA Oceans Director John Hocevar, who attended the consultation today said: 

“As one of the world’s worst plastic polluters and a leading exporter of plastics to the global south, the US has an obligation to fix the crisis they have had an outsized role in creating. Agreement on the need for a treaty is the bare minimum response we expect in the face of an imminent threat that contaminates our food supply, damages human health, threatens biodiversity, accelerates climate change, and poses a significant risk to the environment.

“We need the Biden Administration to listen to civil society and act in accordance with the overwhelming scientific imperative to abandon our destructive model of take, use, and dispose. It is time for the US to work with the international community in guiding us into a new era underpinned by a global treaty that addresses the entire plastic lifecycle, including significantly decreasing production and increasing reuse.

“A piecemeal approach that solely focuses on waste management will be a missed opportunity that will enable plastic’s destructive impact on climate, environmental justice, and human health to continue to worsen. It is not a position we can afford.”

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Contact: Tanya Brooks, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, P: 703-342-9226, E: [email protected]

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