‘All options are still on the table’ to limit plastic production: Guilbeault

OTTAWA – Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says all options to eliminate plastic waste are still on the table in negotiations for a global plastics treaty, including placing legal limits on the amount of plastic the world produces in the first place.

But he says he can’t predict where countries will end up when they finalize the treaty in Korea this fall, or whether it will go far enough to address developing countries’ concerns.

On the final day of talks in Ottawa, Rwanda and Peru asked countries to consider reducing the production of virgin plastics by 40 percent by 2040, based on a 2025 benchmark.

Those were the same two countries that called for the treaty in the first place.

Greenpeace criticized Canada for allowing talks to end Monday without setting a clear path to curb the production of virgin plastic.

Guilbeault says negotiators from 175 countries have made significant progress toward a binding treaty aimed at reducing plastic waste, with the final negotiations for Korea taking place in late fall.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2024.

The Canadian Press