As You Sow Salutes Historic UNEA Resolution Towards Binding Global Plastic Pollution Treaty

Representatives from 175 nations Wednesday endorsed a historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in Nairobi, Kenya, to end plastic pollution and negotiate a global, legally binding agreement by 2024. The resolution authorizes a negotiating committee to develop a treaty on plastic pollution that addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal.

"We salute UN assembly representatives for swiftly greenlighting a process for negotiating a strong, binding treaty with the potential to eliminate the scourge of global plastic pollution," said Conrad MacKerron, As You Sow's senior vice president. "The resolution signals high-level government recognition that plastic pollution is an urgent global crisis threatening human health, the global climate, and hundreds of marine and coastal species. We are pleased the resolution calls for a legally binding process, addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, and applies to plastic pollution in any ecosystem, not just marine pollution."

For its part, As You Sow initiated a letter signed by 65 investors with collective assets of $5.1 trillion, presented to the UNEA conference, in support of a strong, binding treaty process.

"We were honored to convey the support of a significant portion of the investor community for the treaty process," said MacKerron. "We hope the eventual treaty will require reduction in plastic use at least in line with the one-third cut in demand recommended by the Pew Charitable Trusts' 'Breaking the Plastic Wave' report."

As You Sow is proud to have been a first mover in challenging companies to deal with plastic pollution and related post-consumer waste for more than a decade. On Feb. 10, along with Green Century Capital Management, it secured an agreement with Coca-Cola Co. to sell 25% of its products in refillable bottles by 2030, which should avoid the use of billions of single-use plastic bottles, most of which are wasted. As You Sow has also reached recent agreements with six major consumer goods companies, including Target Corp. and Walmart, to reduce their use of virgin plastic for packaging. It has pending shareholder proposals at Amazon.com, Church & Dwight, Kroger Co., and McDonald's, asking those companies to cut their use of virgin plastic for packaging.