Barbados and Morocco recently delivered opening remarks for the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution (DPP), highlighting the successful midterm review of the DPP's work in 2025. They emphasized the importance of delving deeper into focus areas to advance potential outcomes, noting co-sponsors’ interest in global efforts to reduce plastics pollution. This includes negotiations led by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee under the United Nations, scheduled for August 2025 in Geneva.
The co-coordinators reported on productive discussions from a workshop held for Latin America and the Caribbean on May 16. The workshop highlighted efforts to incorporate regional perspectives and hear from smaller delegations. It followed an earlier region-focused workshop centered on Africa.
Regional experts stressed boosting trade and strengthening regulatory capacities to tackle plastics pollution. There was strong support for small businesses, with calls for technical assistance and financial incentives to aid participation in a sustainable economy. Participants also emphasized promoting locally sourced substitutes like banana peel, bamboo, and sugarcane byproducts, alongside green finance mechanisms.
Discussions underscored enhanced regional cooperation and a unified regulatory approach to single-use plastics. Platforms such as Mercosur and ALADI were identified as key avenues for aligning standards.
Switzerland and China facilitated thematic discussions focusing on enhancing cooperation on standards for non-plastic substitutes. Institutions like the Codex Alimentarius Committee presented work on food packaging standards with a focus on safety. Companies from Peru, the Philippines, and the Netherlands shared experiences with regulations while using biodegradable materials.
The United States provided insights from recent WTO discussions exploring domestic practices related to food packaging regulations. Participants expressed commitment to addressing plastics pollution through DPP while avoiding duplication of existing WTO committees' work.
On enhancing transparency of trade flows of plastics, UNITAR presented its work on statistical guidelines for measuring plastic flows throughout their life cycle. The European Union's Joint Research Centre discussed policy measures tracking material flows across value chains.
Participants welcomed these guidelines as tools for monitoring trade flow of goods with embedded plastics. They encouraged broader knowledge sharing and greater support for developing members in building data collection capacity.
Australia concluded by thanking participants, emphasizing transparency as crucial for effective policy design while acknowledging challenges ahead with non-plastic substitutes.
Co-coordinators will update next steps following further consultations. DPP co-sponsors have identified eight areas aiming at possible outcomes at MC14, including supporting multilateral negotiations under the UN to reduce plastic pollution among others.
Launched in November 2020 by WTO members, DPP now consists of 83 co-sponsors representing nearly 90% of global trade in plastics.