Think plastically for a way out of the plastic emergency

There's no reason for international community to agree to be held hostage by a few petrostates refusing to sign a pact limiting plastics production

- SUHIT K SEN

A stringent ban on single-use plastic came into place in South Australia from September 1, following the aborted attempts to limit the production of plastics at a global conference in August. Bans on plastic products in various places have been mandated in many places, including India, with mostly unsatisfactory outcomes. We haven't even scratched the surface of the problem.

The second part of the fifth session of the International Negotiating Committee to develop an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5.2), took place from August 5 to 15, 2025, in Geneva but ended without unanimity. The scale of the plastics problem is immense. It is estimated that over 500 million tonnes of plastics were consumed in 2024 alone, with 400 million tonnes becoming plastic waste. In the absence of urgent interventions, global plastic waste could become overwhelming.

More than 100 of 180-plus countries pushed for, most importantly, a cap on plastic production, but a joint statement based on unanimous agreement floundered in the face of a strong pushback from petrostates like Saudi Arabia, which insisted on focusing on recycling and reuse. The conference ended in failure, highlighting the limits of multilateralism in the environmental sphere, as entrenched fossil-fuel lobbies double down on ecocidal practices.