WTO Members Suggest Recommendations to Draft Statement on Plastics Pollution for MC13
World Trade Organization members mulled over a draft statement on plastics pollution to be circulated at the 13th Ministerial Conference, during a Sept. 21 meeting of the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade, the WTO said. Australia introduced the draft statement, saying that it expands on the first "draft zero" statement and outlines actions meant to "reflect the discussions held over the past two years."
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Many nations sought to improve the draft by "promoting trade measures that would support non-plastic substitutes and alternatives, facilitate technology transfer, provide capacity building and funding to assist least developed countries and small island developing countries, address cross-border waste management, and adopt a balanced approach to addressing environmental, social and health concerns," the WTO said.
International organizations and civil society groups floated their own recommendations on the draft, which included adding a roadmap for future work, pointing to specific products for trade reduction, securing a safe approach to plastics alternatives and substitutes as a way to steer clear of solutions with "regrettable consequences," addressing plastics subsidies and setting up a "science-policy advisory panel" to assess the safety of substitutes. The next meeting of the Dialogue is set for Nov. 16-17.