- Plastic waste contributes to three major planetary crises , namely , pollution , climate change and biodiversity loss . That is why the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee ( INC ) meeting in Ottawa, Canada , 23-29 April 2024 is very important globally and nationally .
- In Indonesia, many rivers are polluted with micro plastic, hundreds of beaches are polluted with plastic, mountains are ' plastic ' , and even the air contains micro plastic.
- Abdul Ghofar, Walhi
National Pollution and Urban Campaigner hopes that there will be
regulations to tackle plastic pollution starting from plastic production,
oil and gas, manufacturing industry waste, retail, to regulating plastic
that becomes waste.
- Yuyun Ismawati, Senior Advisor at Nexus3, said that this meeting was an effort to ensure that the plastic and chemical business runs properly, without causing pollution.
Plastic waste contributes to three major planetary crises, namely, pollution , climate change and biodiversity loss . That is why the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meeting in Ottawa, Canada, 23-29 April 2024 is very important globally and nationally. This meeting discussed an international legally binding agreement regarding plastic pollution.
Abdul
Ghofar, Walhi National Pollution and Urban Campaigner , told Mongabay that plastic is the third cause of the
planetary crisis. Plastic is a source of pollution, causing loss of diversity
because the ecosystem is polluted by microplastics, as well as climate change.
In
Indonesia, the situation is the same, plastic is a serious environmental
problem. Data from the UN Environment Program shows that Indonesia is the
second largest producer of plastic waste in the world after China.
In
Indonesia, many rivers are polluted with micro plastic, hundreds of beaches are
polluted with plastic, mountains are 'plastic', and even the air contains micro
plastic.
"Plastic
is an urgent issue. Indonesia, one of the countries that has a serious problem with
the production of plastic waste , there is more than 18 million
tons of waste per year according to data from the Ministry of
Environment and Forestry , 18% is plastic, not yet marine and
small island waste," he said, Saturday, ( 4/27/24).
So,
he said, the meeting of the international agreement on plastic is a
once-in-a-lifetime moment. He hopes that there will be regulations to overcome
plastic pollution starting from plastic production, oil and gas , manufacturing industry waste, retail, to
regulating plastic that becomes waste.
"If
the plastic problem is not managed as a whole in its life cycle, ultimately
solving this problem will only be solved partially, the important thing is to
treat it," said Ghofar.
The most urgent thing, he said, is reducing plastic production. If
plastic production is not reduced, he said, oil and gas production
will increase, making the energy transition useless. "Petroleum can be
used to produce plastic, that's the urgency," he said.
Yuyun
Ismawati, Senior Advisor at Nexus3, said that this meeting was an effort to
ensure that the plastic and chemical business runs properly, without causing
pollution.
This
regulation, he said, must be completed immediately for the future of children
and grandchildren. "Now, I see that Indonesia's position in meetings is a
lot of listening, not a lot of intervention."
In
fact, he said, if Indonesia does not ratify it will have an impact on
Indonesia's global trade later.
“Globally,
many countries will ratify this plastic regulation. "There are many very
strong coalitions of Pacific countries, because they are island countries
affected by plastic pollution," said Yuyun.
He
is optimistic that this Trinity plastic will be realized this year. “This is an
urgent problem facing all countries. This is a global crisis that must be
handled globally too.
"
Our grandchildren will
feel sorry if a decision is not taken, the industry does not need to be very
afraid. "That the factory will close tomorrow, no, use a little
brain," he said.
Criticism of industry people in
the Indonesian delegation:
The plastic and chemical industry is thought to be part of the
Indonesian delegation at INC. The action to include representatives of the
plastic and chemical industry on behalf of the government delegation also
received criticism from various civil society organizations. They consider it
unethical and potentially harmful to global plastic control goals.
"Yes,
we found that industry was included in the government delegation on behalf of
the Ministry of Industry (Ministry of Industry), not the name of the company,
claiming to be the government, that is unethical because
there is a
conflict of interest ," said Ghofar.
In
fact, he said, this finding was no longer suspected. He sent the names of
delegates. There were at least four names of government representatives who
were actually people from the plastic and chemical industry in Indonesia.
"Actually,
it's not our guess, there is evidence, when the event starts on April 23 2024,
the organizer, INC, usually issues a temporary participant release, from there
we see there are 44 government delegates. "We checked, we met four people
from the plastics or chemical industry," he said.
Some
of the four names are written as Directors of the Ministry of Industry, some as
experts. "Possibly more than four, we will check again when the list of
participants remains at the end of the event," he said.
According
to Ghofar, this INC meeting is very important for the world. This activity is a
follow-up session to create international rules on dealing with plastic
pollution. It started at the annual environmental assembly meeting in Kenya in
2022.
These
regulations, he said, include matters regarding packaging, plastic production
and even waste management. "This is the fourth meeting in Canada, the
final will be in Korea."
The
presence of a government delegation which includes industry people certainly
hinders the substance of the meeting because it is certain that the plastics
industry does not want these regulations to come into effect, such as reducing
plastic production and so on. "The plastic industry only wants the waste
to be collected and then recycled ."
Moreover,
for oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia or Russia, they also want this
international regulation to be sufficient for waste management. So many of the
plastic company associations come from them. "We regret even the official
ones attending, let alone those who are hidden in government delegations
like in Indonesia."
Vocally,
in the meeting, he said, industries that claim to be government have free
access. Not only observing meetings, you can also make suggestions.
"The
presence of the plastic industry is worrying both nationally and
internationally."
In
fact, each government has its own interests, the Ministry of Environment and
Forestry, for example, regarding the environment and the Ministry of Industry
regarding industry.
"Well,
the Ministry of Industry invited industry
to attend as a delegation. In our opinion, it is unethical to attend as a civil
servant, even though if you want to register as an industrialist you can,
especially since this is before the verdict. "The industrial delegation
should not have attended, because this would want to regulate them," he
said.
The
Ministry of Health should not have been invited by industry as a government
delegation, because it is related to human health.
“Or
from BRIN (who was invited), from women and children's institutions.
"That's what we regret, even though other countries have complete
delegations."
Yuyun
added that the presence of industry people in the government delegation was a
form of industry fear that business would be disrupted because of this
regulation.
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