Author: Geoff Giordano
The next step in the United Nations–led process toward a global plastics treaty has emerged in the form of a “zero draft” version released Monday. It will be negotiated at the third Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) in Nairobi in November. Amid many placeholders and options for different languages, the document offers avenues for reducing plastic production, eliminating polymers and “chemicals of concern,” eliminating short-lived and “avoidable” plastics, and creating targets and systems for plastics reduction and reuse.