THE PLASTICS DIVIDE

A truly global agreement on plastic waste remains elusive thanks to the developed world's insistence on dictating terms

- LEENA NANDAN

This past fortnight, all eyes were on the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastics in Geneva. That consensus has yet again proved elusive is disappointing but, frankly, not a surprise.

To give the issue context, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) had adopted a resolution, piloted by India, on pollution caused by single-use plastics (SUP), in 2019. In 2021, India imposed a ban on SUP, effective from July 1, 2022, and then notified the Extended Producer Responsibility Rules in February 2022, which casts an obligation on producers, importers and brand owners of all products containing plastics, towards collecting and recycling the resultant waste plastic.