BIR joins plastics life cycle effort

The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has announced its “commitment to support efforts toward ending plastic pollution worldwide by signing the Bridge to Busan Declaration.”

The Brussels-based recycling organization describes the Bridge to Busan Declaration as “highlight[ing] the urgency of addressing the entire plastic life cycle, including the unsustainable production of virgin plastic polymers.”

The declaration is named after the South Korean city of Busan, which hosts the next United Nations Plastic Treaty intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) meeting this November and December.

BIR says of that effort that it “aligns with BIR’s long-held position that combatting plastic pollution requires full transparency across the plastic value chain, to increase recycling rates and enable a circular and sustainable economy.”

Continues the international recycling confederation, “As a signatory to this landmark declaration, BIR aligns itself with other members of the UN Plastic Treaty’s INC, advocating for the development of a legally binding international instrument to tackle plastic pollution.”

Although recycling is not a front and center part of the Bridge to Busan Declaration, BIR says, “Focusing solely on waste management is insufficient to meet the ambitious goals of reducing plastic pollution.”

The declaration’s proposed “legally binding international framework,” says BIR, advocates for several different outcomes, some of which will directly support recycling.

The BIR lists as UN Plastics Treaty goals: 1) “full transparency” throughout the plastic value chain; 2) a “more sustainable primary plastic production rate,” which BIR calls tied to a circular economy for plastics; 3) requirements for sustainable product design and recycled content targets; and 4) restrictions on hazardous chemical additives in primary plastic polymer production, which can likewise help plastic recyclers and recycled plastic users avoid later liability.

The fifth meeting of the INC takes place in Busan Nov. 25-Dec. 1. “The INC will aim at completing its work on the legally binding instrument by the end of that session, although there is still a lot of progress to be made on refining the treaty text,” states BIR.