Plastic treaty talks must protect countries like mine from pollution

Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa is a lecturer at the Malawi University of Science and Technology and a partner and campaigner of aid group Tearfund.

As I write this, I am sitting in the negotiations for the world’s first UN plastic treaty. I have just learnt that the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry has more than twice as many representatives here as there are negotiators from low-income countries.

Despite this, I have high hopes that an ambitious treaty is possible. We have already seen progress this week, with positive statements from several countries and commitments from the High Ambition Coalition group of 63 countries.

In 2023, my home country of Malawi was hit by Cyclone Freddy. In addition to the immediate impacts of the storm itself, it highlighted the devastating effects of plastic pollution. Plastic waste dumped in waterways prevented the drainage of stormwater and caused greater damage to our communities.

For me and many others in Malawi, systems to collect and recycle plastic waste are either inadequate or non-existent. This means that many people are forced to either dump or burn their waste.

But it’s not just Malawi: one in four people globally have no way to safely dispose of their rubbish.

Last year, an analysis from Tearfund showed that more than 200 million people, often in economically poorer and urban areas, were at risk of more frequent and severe flooding due to plastic waste blocking drains and waterways.

On current trends, these problems are going to get worse.

In Malawi’s major cities, the amount of plastic waste produced is due to triple by 2050. We see similar projections in other countries too. Plastics use is growing fastest in Africa, where existing infrastructure is already a long way behind what is required to manage plastic waste safely.

The world is waking up to this problem. In 2018, after attending a conference in South Africa on the issue, a group of us created the Malawi Creation Care Network to ensure plastic pollution was more widely discussed in our country.

Since then, the network has worked with many governmental and non-governmental partners to push for greater regulation on plastic products. 

This global treaty being discussed in Canada, and due by the end of 2024, presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take serious action on plastic pollution. This is the third round of negotiations I have attended, and I see the desire growing for change. Outside official negotiation halls, local communities are also raising their voices through marches, art installations and more.

To be successful, the treaty must contain four key elements.

Firstly, we need to see a reduction in the amount of plastic produced. There is no solution to this problem without first turning off the tap of unsustainable plastic production.

Secondly, the waste management and recycling infrastructure in countries such as Malawi needs to be better financed so it can deal with the waste problem. 

Thirdly, we must ensure these systems build on and integrate the work of the 20 million waste pickers around the world who already collect most of the plastic that gets recycled. This is crucial to ensuring that their incomes improve and their human rights are respected, as part of a just transition.

Finally, governments and businesses must be held to account through meaningful, measurable and enforceable mechanisms to ensure they keep to their commitments.

As I said at the beginning, there are some that would like to see this process produce a weak, unenforceable treaty. Obviously, those that profit from the plastics crisis will resist change. 

But six years ago, the Malawi Creation Care Network did not exist. The global movement against plastic pollution had barely started and no one thought a global treaty was remotely possible.

Now, we regularly read about the problem of plastic waste. And I’m sitting in a room with diplomats from more than 150 countries, debating the precise text of just such a global treaty.

Every single day, the health and livelihoods of people in Malawi and around the world are being impacted by plastic pollution. We have the chance to change this. Let’s not throw it away.