BFFP Newsletter: Updates from INC-3 Global Plastics Treaty negotiations and more!

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Subject: BFFP Newsletter: Updates from INC-3 Global Plastics Treaty negotiations and more!

Latest News and Updates

November 16, 2023

Image Credit: Fenceline Watch

INC-3 UPDATES from the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Nairobi, Kenya

Today is the fourth day of the INC-3 for a Plastics Treaty. As a reminder, the United Nations determined that there will be five Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to negotiate a new global plastics treaty before the end of 2024.

Dozens of our colleagues and allies from around the world are currently in Nairobi, Kenya, advocating for a strong, legally-binding treaty that covers plastic at every stage of its lifecycle, from extraction/refining through disposal.

On Friday, the Economist Impact released a summary from last month’s Global Plastics Summit held with dozens of country delegates and key stakeholder, in order to help inform the INC-3 negotiations.

On Saturday, hundreds of people joined the #BreakFreeFromPlastic Movement March to call for “Drastic Cuts on Plastic Production to Stop Plastic Pollution.”

On Monday, #BreakFreeFromPlastic responded to the formation of a group of “like-minded” plastic-producing countries led by Iran and Saudi Arabia that could counter ambition in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. That same day, Emma Priestland (BFFPGlobal Corporate Campaigns Coordinator) joined Greenpeace as part of a panel at an INC-3 press briefing focused on “Working Towards Real Solutions.”

Today, a new analysis from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), supported by Greenpeace, Beyond Petrochemicals, International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), and Break Free From Plastic – and importantly based on the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) provisional list of INC-3 participants – shows that 143 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered for INC-3, which represents a 36% increase from INC-2 and also means that the fuel and chemical company lobbyists at INC-3 outnumber the 70 smallest Member States delegations at the negotiations.

INC-3 ends on November 19th … stay tuned for more updates below!

Photo from @newyorkstateag on Instagram

New York State Attorney General Sues PepsiCo Over Plastic Packaging

New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing PepsiCo for the company's plastic pollution along the Buffalo River with a big shout out to #BreakFreeFromPlastic's Brand Audit citizen science data!

The New York Times reports that “James is seeking unspecified damages and demanding that the company provide a remedy for the contamination in the Buffalo region caused by its products and reduce the quantity of PepsiCo’s plastic packaging entering the river. Ms. James is also demanding that the company stop selling or distributing single-use plastic products in the Buffalo area that do not contain ‘adequate’ warning labels.”

The Office of the New York Attorney General also notes that globally: "Break Free From Plastic aggregated 2,125,415 items of plastic waste from 2,373 separate collections ... from 2018-2022. In each year, the study documented PepsiCo was either the number one or number two producer of branded plastic trash collected across the United States." Special thanks to all the volunteers who collected these millions of pieces of plastic waste around the world and made this moment possible!

Spread the word

Image credit: James Wakibia

Hundreds of People Walk the Streets of Nairobi Calling for “Drastic Cuts on Plastic Production to Stop Plastic Pollution”

The global #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement, together with dozens of climate groups, youth, civic society, and allies, marched through Nairobi on November 11, 2023 ahead of the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) tasked with developing an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.

Demonstrators at the “#BreakFree FromPlasticMovement March” walked from the National Museums of Kenya to the City Park, holding banners and amplifying calls for a drastic reduction in plastic production and an end to plastic pollution through a strong global plastics treaty.

Learn more

One Year of Toxic “Operations” at the Shell Plastics Plants in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, U.S.

November 15th marked one year since the Shell Plastics Plant opened in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, U.S. In just a single year, this facility has racked up:

26+ malfunctions
13 notice of violations
1 almost $10 million fine

The State of Pennsylvania considers this facility to be “still under construction” and in “start-up” mode, which is why the government has renewed Shell’s construction permit through April 2024. During that time, the Shell Plastics Plant will continue to operate with less strict regulation because it is not technically “operational” yet.

This is a failure of government at every level to protect the people of Beaver County from Shell’s toxic pollution.

Learn more

Special Screening for Plasticósfera: No Hay Planeta B

This November 16, an epic adventure awaits you in this documentary by the Guatemalan organization Rescue The Planet, which will take you on an exciting journey with Latin American environmentalists and scientists.

Join them on their expedition through the second largest coral reef in the world and join them as they take samples off the coasts of Guatemala and Honduras. Their goal is to investigate and document the alarming plastic and microplastic pollution that is seriously affecting the region's marine life, tourism and fishery resources, as well as human health. Discover how, as they delve into the depths of the ocean, they reveal the magnitude of a problem that goes beyond what we imagine, impacting social and political spheres of Caribbean communities.

After the screening, we will have a forum with the creator and director of the documentary, Sergio Izquierdo and Alejandra Parra, Zero Waste and Plastics Advisor for GAIA Latin America and the Caribbean.

The documentary is in Spanish with subtitles in English.

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Subject: BFFP Newsletter: Updates from INC-3 Global Plastics Treaty negotiations and more!