Participants from around the world gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, where negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution are underway. Rwanda is playing a key role in the negotiation of a new global plastic treaty.
Speaking on a panel on mobilising resources to end plastic pollution, Juliet Kabera, the Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), shared Rwanda's experience in funding waste collection, and the need to scale up proper plastic waste management through innovative financing solutions and a global plastics treaty.
She said that in partnership with the Private Sector Federation, in 2021, a fund was established to manage plastic waste. The fund has created 1,300 green jobs.
"When a company requests special authorisation in their transition to alternative packaging solutions, they pay a levy and the funding has enabled us to set up a plastics collection scheme. Since the scheme was introduced, 1,500 tonnes of plastic waste from 24 drop-off points have been collected that would have otherwise gone to landfill. The scheme has also created employment opportunities for 1,300 people," she said.
Kabera noted that for the global plastics treaty to be effective, there is a need for financing that facilitates institutional strengthening, capacity-building, and technology transfer, and that creates the right incentives for sustainable alternatives to plastics.
On Tuesday, November 14, a side event discussed the investments needed to end plastic pollution from both the public and private sectors, and how best to support countries to meet their obligations under a future global plastics treaty.
At least 60 ministers of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to ending plastic waste by 2040, and a treaty based on the full life cycle of plastics.
Norway and Rwanda are leading a "high ambition coalition" of governments that want to end plastic pollution by 2040 by cutting production and limiting some chemicals used in making plastics. Rwanda is Co-Chair of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution.
Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), commended Rwanda's efforts to beat plastic pollution.
"Let Africa lead the way. African nations like Kenya and Rwanda have led in reducing single-use plastic," she said.
Petrochemical companies, environmentalists, and others affected by pollution also gathered to discuss draft language for the first time. Although there is a call for a treaty based on the full life cycle of plastics, Andersen announced a coalition with Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and other countries with large petrochemical industries to advocate for the treaty to focus on waste control, rather than the entire life cycle of plastics, raising concerns from environmentalists.
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The joint statement by Rwanda and coalition members expressed concerns about projections of a continued and significant scaling up of plastic production, a near doubling of mismanaged plastics, and a more than 60 per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 from the plastic system in the absence of new and effective global measures.
Research has found that 15 global policy interventions across the plastics lifecycle could reduce annual mismanaged plastics by 90 per cent and reduce primary plastic production by 30 per cent by 2040.
