BD rejects global plastics treaty draft

FE REPORT
Bangladesh has rejected the latest global plastics treaty draft, demanding stronger measures against plastic pollution. It said the treaty falls far short of the mandate set by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) Resolution 5/14 to establish a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.
The rejection was announced during the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution held at the Palais des Nations in Switzerland's Geneva on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the environment ministry said the draft "represents a weak and inadequate outcome" that excludes supply-side measures and fails to address the full life cycle of plastics.
It noted that the draft does not address health impacts, chemicals of concern, or the waste hierarchy, and imposes no robust obligations to curb transboundary plastic pollution.
The draft also lacks provisions for reliable means of implementation, instead relying on a "convoluted and voluntary approach" that ignores the urgency of the global plastic crisis.
Bangladesh underscored that the treaty's core must confront harmful chemicals in plastics - where scientific evidence most strongly links to health risks - and address emissions and primary plastic production, given the harms plastics cause throughout their life cycle.
"This text does little to protect human health or the environment from plastic pollution. It reduces the treaty to a waste management framework, shirking responsibility for plastic producers, and omitting binding measures to phase out the most harmful plastic products," the ministry stated in a statement.
Bangladesh reaffirmed that it cannot support the draft without substantial amendments, and called on negotiators to significantly raise ambition in line with the UNEA mandate.
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