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Historical data tell us that about 75% of coronavirus plastic will likely become waste, clogging our landfills and floating in our seas. And the costs are staggering.
The negative spillover effects of plastic waste on fisheries, tourism and maritime transport, for example, add up to an estimated US$40billion each year, according to the UN Environment Programme.
Trade policy’s role overlooked
Plastic is an ingredient in countless products traded internationally every day – from cars to toys to household appliances. Even goods that contain no plastic, such as apples or chocolate bars, are shipped in millionnes of tons of plastic packaging each year.
“Plastic production and consumption are a global system that has lots of trade dimensions,” Ms. Coke-Hamilton said.
“However, the important role that global trade policies could play in the fight against plastic pollution has not garnered the attention it deserves,” she said while presenting an UNCTAD analysis of trade in plastics, sustainability and development to the World Trade Organisation’s trade and environment committee on 3rd July.
The number of trade measures mentioning plastics – such as technical regulations, subsidies, licences and bans – reported to the WTO has increased annually by 28% over the past decade, eliciting growing concern among WTO members.
“But the way countries have been using trade policy to fight plastic pollution has mostly been uncoordinated, which limits the effectiveness of their efforts,” Ms. Coke-Hamilton said. “There are limits to what any country can achieve on its own.”
She said the 164 developing and developed economies which make up the WTO have the ability to write multilateral trade rules that could more effectively address fundamental issues of the global plastics economy.
Less pollution, more jobs
Besides regulating the production and consumption of plastics, UNCTAD urges governments and businesses to identify non-fossil fuel plastic substitutes.
The list of non-toxic, biodegradable or easily recyclable materials that could replace plastic include many well-known materials: such as glass, ceramics, natural fibres, paper, cardboard, rice husks natural rubber and animal proteins.
As developing countries are key suppliers of many plastic substitutes, increased global demand could create new, greener trade and investment opportunities for them.
Developing nations supply, for example, 92% of the world’s jute; with the main suppliers being Bangladesh (74%) and India (9%). They also accounted for 94% of global natural rubber exports in 2019, with Thailand (31.5%), Indonesia (30%) and Côte d’Ivoire (8.5%) leading the pack.
Developing countries have a big stake in the global plastics economy. Their share of global plastics production jumped from 43.5% in 2009 to 58% in 2018. And two out of three plastic manufacturing jobs are in the global south.
“Since many plastics substitutes are also labour intensive, changes in production and consumption patterns could create new jobs,” Ms. Coke-Hamilton said.
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