#PlasticsTreaty Shorts

The global plastics treaty is currently being drafted by the global community - an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. One of the experts attending the meetings is Christina Dixon from the Environmental Investigation Agency. The EIA is an NGO which has campaigned against environmental crime and abuse since the 1980s, from whaling to ivory trade, to ozone depletion and climate change. Chris Dixon is their expert on plastic pollution at the London office, and she sent me food for thought with a voice message. How do we get to a successful plastics treaty? Chris says there are some fundamental principles that can guide us there.

Read the transcript of this episode here: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/2023/11/05/plasticstreaty-shorts-three-principles-with-chris-dixon-transcript/

If you’d like to share a thought or demand for the plastics treaty, you can contribute too. My mailbox is open for your voice messages until the end of the negotiations. I will pick some of these messages for a short podcast episode like this one. You can find recording instructions here:

https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: Three Principles with Chris Dixon

Recycling is often seen as a golden standard for minimizing plastic pollution. And while recycling definitely does play a role in the future, it should not be the first priority. Kristian Syberg, an associate professor at Roskilde University in Denmark working on the circular economy, and the environmental impact of plastics, tells us why.

Read the transcript of this episode here: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/2023/11/07/plasticstreaty-shorts-consumption-reduction-with-kristian-syberg/

This message is part of the #PlasticsTreaty Shorts series. If you’d like to share a thought on solutions for plastic pollution, send Anja a voice message. Her mailbox is open for contributions until the end of the treaty negotiations. Some of the messages will be published. Find the recording instructions here:

https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: Consumption Reduction with Kristian Syberg

Similar to how food products contain a list of ingredients, we need to know which chemicals plastic products contain. This is not an easy task, but it would be a huge step if producers lifted the secret around the chemicals they use. Right now we are blindly dealing with a cocktail of chemicals we don’t really understand. Scientists have to reverse engineer to find out what’s in these products, and this is expensive and tedious. Knowing about the chemical ingredients of plastics would give us the chance to decide which risks we are willing to take or not – as a society, and as individuals. Hear more from chemist Walter Waldman from Brazil in his message to Plastisphere.

Read the transcript of this episode here: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/2023/11/09/plasticstreaty-shorts-unknown-chemicals-with-walter-waldman-transcript/

This episode is part of the #PlasticsTreaty Shorts series. If you’d like to share a thought on solutions for plastic pollution, send Anja a voice message. You can contribute until the end of the treaty negotiations. Selected messages will be published. Find the recording instructions here:

anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: Unknown chemicals with Walter Waldman

We have exceeded six of the nine planetary boundaries. In her message to Plastisphere, Bethany Carney Almroth from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden tells us about one of them - the planetary boundary of novel entities which include plastics and chemicals. The only planetary boundary we have been able to move away from is the ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere. And why? Because when a ‘hole’ – or a thinning - in the ozone layer was discovered in the 1980s, countries from around the world acted quickly and signed a treaty to phase out the CFCs, the chemicals which were destroying the ozone layer. Let's hope that the plastics treaty follows in the footsteps of this success story!

Read the transcript of this episode here: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/2023/11/10/plasticstreaty-shorts-the-planetary-boundary-with-bethanie-carney-almroth/

If you’d like to share a thought or demand for the plastics treaty, you can contribute too. My mailbox is open for your voice messages until the end of the negotiations. I will pick some of these messages for a short podcast episode like this one. You can find recording instructions here:

https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: The Planetary Boundary with Bethanie Carney Almroth

Today, you’ll hear a message from Andrés Del Castillo in the #PlasticsTreaty Shorts series. Andrés is a Senior Attorney from Columbia working with CIEL, the Center for International Environmental Law in Switzerland (https://www.ciel.org/). CIEL is a non-governmental organization that has long pointed out the broader implications of plastic pollution. They have published reports on the connection between plastics and climate change, human health, and and the petrochemical industry and fracking. Andrés says that we need to regulate the precursors or building blocks, just like the plastics and chemicals they are turned into. But we don’t need to wait for the global community to agree on production caps. There’s another way to halt the growth in production. Hear more from Andrés - and don't miss Rebecca Altman's excellent essay "On Vinyl" in Orion Magazine:

https://orionmagazine.org/article/east-palestine-train-derailment-plastics-history/

Find the transcript of this episode here: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/2023/11/13/plasticstreaty-shorts-production-caps-and-moratoriums-with-andres-del-castillo-transcript/

Dear listener, if you have a thought to share, you can send me a voice message. Please follow my recording instructions:

https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: Production Caps and Moratoriums with Andrés Del Castillo

For a long time, we treated disposable plastic and waste as if there was an “away” – a place, where we could safely dispose of our trash. But as we all know, nothing disappears just magically. Each year, the world produces over two billion tons of waste, and hundreds of millions tons of that are plastic. There is no away, and all this stuff goes somewhere – to landfills, dumps, incinerators, recycling facilities, or into the environment. But our plastic products don’t  always end up close to where they are used. Waste is traded globally, and especially the hard-to-recycle plastics are shipped to places abroad. Often, there’s not enough infrastructure to deal with this waste plastic in a safe way. So it is openly dumped, recycled without protecting the workers’ health, or lost to the environment – with impacts for the local people and ecosystems. Listen to messages by Nirere Sadrach from Uganda, and Sharifa Ismail from Malaysia. 

You can read the transcript of this episode here: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/2023/11/16/plasticstreaty-shorts-waste-colonialism-with-nirere-sadrach-and-sharifa-ismail-transcript/

Learn more about your country in the "Plastic Overshoot Day" episode (second half): https://soundcloud.com/plastisphere-podcast/plastic-overshoot-day

WWF study on costs for low vs. high income countries: https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?10004441/lifetime-cost-plastic

These messages are part of the #PlasticsTreaty Shorts series. If you’d like to share a thought on solutions for plastic pollution, send Anja a voice message. Her mailbox is open for contributions until the end of the treaty negotiations. Some of the messages will be published. Please follow the recording instructions here:

anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: Waste Colonialism with Nirere Sadrach and Sharifa Ismail

Welcome again to Plastisphere, the podcast on plastics, people, the planet – and politics! Today, the INC-3, the third round of negotiations towards a global plastic treaty, will wrap up in Nairobi – and Anja received a timely message from one of the attending journalists: Julien Gupta is a freelance journalist from Germany working on climate and the environment. He says some of what he observed at INC-3 in Nairobi very much surprised him. Listen to his message from yesterday, Saturday, November 18th, 2023.

You can find the CIEl report referenced by Julien here: https://www.ciel.org/news/fossil-fuel-and-chemical-industries-at-inc-3/

If you’d like to learn more about the role of science in the negotiations, listen to our episode from earlier this year, “Science over Profit”:  https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/2023/05/12/ep13-plastictreaty/

Find out more about the Scientists 'Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty here: https://ikhapp.org/scientistscoalition/

If you are currently at the negotiations in Nairobi and have comments to share, we’d be super grateful to hear about them! Send Anja a voice message by following the instructions on the Plastisphere website: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

For German listeners, you can follow Juliens reporting here: https://steadyhq.com/de/treibhauspost/newsletter/sign_up
https://taz.de/teamzukunft

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: The Fossil-Fuel Lobby at INC-3 with Julien Gupta

The penultimate session to negotiate the global plastics treaty ended just a few days ago in Ottawa, Canada. One of the journalists attending was Stephen Leahy, a science and environmental journalist who’s reported on climate and other issues for the past 30 years. Steve has written for dozens of publications including National Geographic, the Guardian, New Scientist and The Atlantic. Anja asked him about his impressions of this fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, the INC4. Hear more in Steve's audio message. 

You can follow Steve’s reporting via his substack page leahy.substack.com

To send a voice message follow the instructions here: https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: Report from INC-4 in Ottawa with Stephen Leahy

Sirine Rached is the Global Plastics Policy Coordinator at GAIA, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. In her message, Sirine shares why she doesn’t believe in certain technologies that are currently promoted to solve the plastics crisis. 

Read more on GAIA’s positions in the PlasticsTreaty talks here:  no-burn.org/unea-plastics-treaty

Send me a voice message - it might be published! Follow the instructions here:
https://anjakrieger.com/plastisphere/send-a-voice-message/


#PlasticsTreaty Shorts: Burning plastics and chemical recycling with Sirine Rached

Anja is at INC5, the final round of negotiations for the global plastics treaty. On the opening day, she asked people about their expectations - and witnessed the magic of diplomacy: Break free from brackets!

With input from (in order of appearance):
- Smail Alhilali (UNIDO)
- Anjeli Debaraja
- Jose Lopez Reyes (Dominican Republic Delegation)
- Angelica C. Pago (Greenpeace East Asia)
- Doe Johnson (International Alliance of Waste Pickers)
- Indumathi, translated by Akbar Allahbakash (Hasiru Dala)
- Shanti Tamang, translated by Janu Dangol (Trash for Peace)
- Maria Angelica Ikeda (Representative of Brasil)
- Winni Lau (Pew)

Thanks to Grid Arendal for supporting Anja's travels to South Korea with a grant!

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts - Brackets Busan Style

The podcast on plastic, people, and the planet by @anjakrieger.

Plastics have become the basis for our modern lives, but they also pollute the planet. Will we be able to develop a healthy relationship with these materials we’ve created?

Follow Anja on a journey into the world of synthetic polymers, their impacts on nature and ourselves, and the global quest to tackle plastic pollution. Each episode explores the issue from a different angle, featuring a diverse set of voices and viewpoints.

#PlasticsTreaty Shorts

Plastisphere Podcast