The fight over the future of plastics

Earlier this week in Ottawa, the Vinyl Institute, a major plastic industry group, hosted a reception for delegates who are negotiating what would be the first global treaty to tackle the world’s mounting plastic waste problem.

There were cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. And signs with the message that plastics save lives.

Scientists have increasingly raised the alarm over the risks that the chemicals used in plastic pose to human health and the environment. Ahead of the latest round of talks, European researchers published a database of more than 16,000 chemicals plastics can contain, many of which have been linked to cancer risks and damage to the human immune system.

The plastics industry urgently needed to combat the image of the industry as “the enemy, this faceless industry that is there to kill people,” Domenic DeCaria, the Vinyl Institute’s technical director, told an industry gathering ahead of the latest round of talks, according to a recording of the remarks, which DeCaria confirmed in a conversation with the Times Thursday.

In particular, the industry is pushing back against the possible inclusion in the treaty of caps on global plastic production, an approach favored by a broad coalition of nations at the talks, which resumed on Tuesday in Ottawa.

Spearheading that effort are African nations that have blazed a trail in phasing out single-use plastics, which make up the bulk of plastic pollution. Almost three dozen countries on the African continent have banned various forms of single-use plastics and packaging.

Targeting plastics production

Plastic production has also come under heightened scrutiny because of the emissions of planet-warming gases it causes. Recycling has failed to stem the flow of plastic waste that is piling up in landfills, entering the world’s rivers and oceans, and breaking down into tiny particles that have made their way into drinking water supplies and are detectable in human blood. The fiery derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last year of a train carrying vinyl chloride also underscored the hazards of some of the chemicals used to make plastics.

The plastics industry has countered by highlighting the critical role plastics play in modern life. Nearly 200 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists plan to join this week’s treaty negotiations, a 40 percent jump from the previous round of negotiations, according to an analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law.

Modern medicine relies heavily on single-use plastics, for example. Bags made of PVC can preserve blood for up to 42 days, a sign at the Vinyl Institute cocktail party pointed out. Industry groups have also highlighted the role plastics play in preventing food waste and delivering clean tap water.

“When you think about the bigger problems of access to clean water, access to good health,” Mr. DeCaria said from Ottawa on Tuesday, “we’re part of the solution.”

The global debate on plastics

The plastics industry has also found itself navigating a tricky global landscape. Some of the world’s biggest oil- and gas-producing countries are aligned with the industry’s position. Nations are aiming to hammer out a draft of the treaty by the end of the year, at the final round of negotiations in South Korea. On top of reining in plastic production, scientists are urging negotiators to aim for a treaty that mandates testing of the chemicals in plastics.

According to the U.N. Environment Program, the world produces more than 430 million metric tons of plastic a year. Two-thirds are short-lived products that soon become waste.

“We will continue to need plastic for specific uses, such as renewable energy technologies,” said Inger Andersen, U.N.E.P.’s executive director. “But there is growing agreement that short-lived and single use can go.”

Biden’s emissions rule-making spree

The Biden administration placed the final cornerstone of its plan to tackle climate change today, my colleagues Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman reported. The new regulation would force the country’s coal-fired power plants to reduce their greenhouse pollution by 90 percent by 2039 or shut down.

It’s part of a slew of new rules on planet-warming pollution the White House issued recently as it works to meet the nation’s goal of cutting carbon emissions by about half from 2005 levels by the end of the decade. Here is what has happened since the beginning of the year:

• Car and trucks: Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new tailpipe pollution limits designed to ensure that at least 56 percent of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are all-electric or hybrids by 2032. Coral pointed out that the rule on passenger cars would eliminate more greenhouse gas emissions than any other climate rule in the nation’s history. Another rule increasingly limits the amount of pollution allowed from bigger trucks.

The White House has also issued regulations to protect wildlife, rid municipal water systems of “forever chemicals,” and limit pollution from industrial and chemical plants that makes people sick.

The rules are likely to face challenges. Many states have already sued the government to stop the implementation of some of the rules. — Manuela Andreoni