Sat, Aug 16, 2025 page3

• Plastics plans reiterated as UN treaty falls apart

  • By Esme Yeh / Staff reporter
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  Taiwan would continue to promote life cycle management of plastics in line with the international trend, the Ministry of Environment said yesterday.

  A legally binding plastics treaty was not finalized by the UN’s International Negotiating Committee (INC), with the failure of the talks following the comments of Taiwanese representatives at the meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

  The INC-5.2 conference ended without a treaty established as delegates failed to reach agreement, Reuters reported.

  

  Plastic items are seen next to an artwork by Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong, titled The Thinker’s Burden, a 6m-tall sculptural remix of Rodin’s iconic Thinker created for the Plastics Treaty negotiations, in front of the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday last week.

  Photo: AP

  Capping production, chemicals of concern and financing to potentially affected developing countries were among the most controversial issues, Reuters reported.

  The INC-5.2 conference was held over the past two weeks to establish a global plastics treaty aimed at ending plastic pollution, with 184 UN member states and more than 600 observer entities attending.

  Taiwanese delegates to the conference included Resource Circulation Administration Secretary-General Liu Yi-kun (劉怡焜), Circular Economy and Innovative Transformation Association honorary president Fan Kuo-shuh (樊國恕) and Shiu Ruei-feng (許瑞?), an associate professor of marine environment and ecology at National Taiwan Ocean University.

  Although a draft text of the treaty was released on Wednesday, consensus could not be reached due to unresolved disagreements, Liu said in a video call, adding that another version was released yesterday.

  Fan said the latest version included addressing the full life cycle of plastics from design to disposal — which was missing in the original version — although provisions regarding sustainable production were taken out.

  However, elements related to sustainable production were added to the draft’s descriptions of plastic product design, apparently to pave the way for revisions, he said.

  Although a list of banned plastic products was not in the new version, principles were laid down to prevent undesired plastic use, Fan said.

  Plastic products that would cause environmental pollution, interfere with disposal management processes or harm human health, or that are difficult to restore, reuse or recycle, would be prohibited, he said, citing the updated draft treaty.

  The draft also addressed chemicals of concern and microplastics, with a focus on microplastic pollution in the ocean, Fan said, adding that proper disposal of fishing and agriculture gear containing plastics was specified in provisions regarding plastic waste management.

  Another highlight of the draft is “just transition,” or mandates that healthcare and job opportunities should be provided for disadvantaged people who might be affected by the treaty, such as people working in the plastics industry, waste collectors and small-scale fishers, he said.

  Shiu said the draft’s provisions regarding the investigation of plastic pollution are important.

  The provisions would not only require signatory states to identify plastic pollution hotspots in their surrounding waters, but would also encourage investigations in international waters in cooperation with other countries, he said.

  Resource Circulation Administration Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said that Taiwan has been implementing life cycle approaches to plastic management in line with the spirit of the planned treaty and would continue those efforts.

  Asked about the ministry’s budget plans for next year, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭?明) said that funding of local environmental authorities would decrease as a result of amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法).

  He called on local governments to allocate resources to support their environmental protection bureaus.
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