INF/TE/IDP/RD/92* 
20 January 2023  
(23-0480) Page: 1/3 
 Original: English, anglais, inglés  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT  BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENT DE S ÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT  BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OF ICIAL1 
 
DIALOGUE ON PLASTICS POLLUTION AND  ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE 
PLASTICS TRADE  
STATEMENT  BY THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (CIEL)  
Plenary Meeting – 7 December 2022  
_______________  
 
* In Original language only/En langue originale seulement/En el idioma original solamente.  
1 Documents issued in the RD series are not official WTO documents. They usually appear in their 
language of submission and will not be translated systematically int o the working languages of the WTO. They 
are intended for use in WTO meeting rooms and are attributed an unofficial symbol for archiving purposes only.  
Les documents de la série RD ne sont pas des documents officiels de l 'OMC. Ils ne paraissent 
généraleme nt que dans la langue dans laquelle ils ont été communiqués et ne seront pas systématiquement 
traduits dans les langues de travail de l'OMC. Ils sont destinés aux salles de réunion de l'OMC et une cote non 
officielle leur est attribuée à des fins d'archiva ge. 
Los documentos de la serie RD no son documentos oficiales de la OMC. Por lo general se distribuyen en 
el idioma en que han sido presentados y no se traduce n sistemáticamente a los idiomas de trabajo de la 
Organización. Se distribuyen para su uso en las  salas de reunión de la OMC y se les asigna una signatura no 
oficial a efectos de archivo únicamente.  INF/TE/IDP/RD/92  
 
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WTO Dialogue on Plastic Pollution  
 
7th of December 2022  
 
STATEMENT FOR DISTRIBUTION  
 
 
Your excellencies,  
Ladies and gentlemen,  
Distinguished members of the WTO,  
 
1. The Center  for International Environmental Law (CIEL) thanks all the Delegates, the 
Secretariat and Colleagues for their hard work this year at the WTO on the topic of plastic pollution.  
2. Our understanding of plastic – and its polluting impacts on the environment, c limate, human 
rights and human health – has evolved greatly over the years, and has led us to the negotiations of 
an international Treaty on Plastic Pollution and to this Dialogue  here at the WTO.  
3. In its first year, we witnessed how the Dialogue on Plastic s Pollution (DPP) made a significant 
and an important contribution to a better understanding of the linkages between trade and plastic 
pollution. The Dialogue also became the most open of any WTO process to date in terms of 
stakeholder participation, as we ll as the most transparent. We hope that DPP coordinators and 
facilitators will share some of their practice so as to increase awareness of what the DPP does and 
how stakeholders can get involved in the future.  
4. In 2022, the Dialogue also became a critical  vehicle for members to share national experiences 
and capacity building needs. And we hope Dialogue Members will continue to share information, in 
order to strengthen the Dialogue working base in the incoming weeks.  
5. As governments continue negotiations on  an internationally legally binding instrument to end 
plastic pollution in 2023, the Dialogue has a lot to offer to identify and foster specific areas for trade -
related cooperation that can support this global effort by identifying concrete, pragmatic, and  
effective outcomes as stressed by the founding ministerial statement of the Dialogue.  
6. One area that we believe Dialogue Members need to explore more and increase their effort, 
is the workstream of reduction of plastics. In these last 2 years, it has beco me ever more clear that 
we do not have time to waste in this regard. Petrochemical companies are producing more 
than 400 million tons of plastics per year,  and we are already  drowning in plastic pollution1. 
That production is planned to double or even tri ple to many hundreds of millions of tons 
each year.  If the scale of the current production is already  creating an urgent crisis  – a 
common concern of humankind – growing production prospects will exacerbate the crisis.  
7. As the UN Secretary General said las t week: “Plastics are fossil fuels in another form and pose 
a serious threat to human rights, the climate and biodiversity”. And he added “I call on countries to 
look beyond waste and turn off the tap on plastic ” (emphasis added).2 
8. While we need to think about substitutes and alternatives to plastics among other things, we 
cannot address plastic pollution  without addressing the reduction  of plastic production . And in the 
context of the plastic pollution crisis, plastic production red uction is a means and not just the 
consequence of policies .  
 
1 See e.g. United Nations Environment Programme, Report: Drowning in Plastics - Marine Litter and Plastic 
Waste Vital Graphics https://www.unep.org/resources/report/drowning -plastics -marine -litter-and-plastic -
waste -vital-graphics . 
2 António Guterres on Twitter, https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1598667368296751109 . 
INF/TE/IDP/RD/92  
 
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  9. We urge Members to strengthen their efforts on the reduction workstream, to identify concrete 
outcomes to phase down the amount  of plastics being produced , because we are already  
drowning.  
10. While  UNEA processes keep ongoing, this could include initiatives that support the phase -
down of single -use plastics, which comprises around 40 percent of all plastic produced,3 and discuss 
the effectiveness and ongoing implementation of existing plastic relat ed trade restrictions on single 
used plastics, so as to better understand how to make them efficient and see which are the lessons 
learned and action points that can be taken from a trade perspective.  
11. Additionally, UNEP's document produced for INC1 called ‘ Overview of information to promote 
cooperation and coordination with relevant regional and international conventions, instruments and 
organizations’ mentioned the following: “G iven the potential of trade in moderating the global supply 
and demand f or plastics, the committee may wish to consider whether the instrument could promote 
close collaboration with trade -related organizations such as UNCTAD and WTO in the 
development of legal and policy guidance and capacity -building programmes for countries  
to gradually phase out the trade of certain types of plastics and plastic wastes , such as 
those specified under the Basel Convention " (emphasis added).4 The Plastic Waste 
Amendments of the Basel Convention created a new listing in Annex VIII (A3210) for p lastic wastes 
presumed to be hazardous , and where a trade restriction shall apply. The Waste Amendments 
also made a listing of plastic wastes that require special consideration  (because of the risks they 
pose for the environment and human health), through a new listing in Annex II (Y48). In short, 
there is some common understanding at the international level of what constitutes hazardous 
plastics or that need special consideration and that we need to avoid producing in the first place. 
Dialogue members coul d make use of what is already in the Basel Convention to reduce and 
ultimately phase out hazardous plastics or products that are at risk of becoming hazardous plastic 
waste.  
12. Another topic where the involvement of Dialogue Members is key to address plastic pollution 
is   a better understanding of the trade implication of moving towards alternative systems, meaning 
the development of reuse and refill systems (which have demonstrated to be less polluting and more 
advantageous from an economic perspective).5 What are the things that could be done from a trade 
perspective to increase the development of reuse and refill systems? And which are the challenges, 
needs and opportunities from a trade perspective?   
13. Innovation will most certainly be necessary as we purs ue a future free of plastic pollution. 
However, innovation needs to include scalable systems of re -use and refilling which we have not 
discussed much this year. And we also have to be cautious to not promote old ideas that fall short 
for human health and f or the planet, and I am referring here to bioplastics, biodegradable plastics 
and chemical recycling.  
14. We look forward to supporting the Dialogue’s work in the incoming year. Congratulations again 
for your efforts this year.  
 
Please accept, Excellencies a nd colleagues, the assurances of our highest consideration.  
 
Helionor de Anzizu  
Staff Attorney,  
Center for International Environmental Law  
hdeanzizu@ciel.org   
 
 
__________  
 
3 Single use plastic is defined as a product that is made wholly or partly from plastic and that is not 
conceiv ed, designed or placed on the market to accomplish, within its life span, multiple trips or rotations by 
being returned to a producer for refill or re -used for the same purpose for which it was conceived.  Meaning that 
any plastic that is intended for one -time use —such as plastic bags, sachets, bottles, and food, drink, and non -
food packaging, designed to be used only once and then disposed of. This includes recyclable packaging.  
 4 United Nations Environment Programme, Overview of information to promote c ooperation and 
coordination with relevant regional and international conventions, instruments and organizations  
UNEP/PP/INC. 1/10. 
 5 ZeroWasteEurope, Reusable VS single -use packaging: a review of environmental impact, 
https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/reusable -vs-single -use-packaging -a-review -of-environmental -impact/ .