Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollution

Call for written submissions – Proposed response template on the potential
options for elements towards an international legally binding instrument
On 9 December 2022, the Executive Secretary of the INC Plastic Pollution Secretariat sent a notification
inviting written submissions from members of the committee and from stakeholders. The template
below is intended to provide guidance to members of the committee and stakeholders in structuring thewritten submissions.
As requested by INC-1, written submissions will inform the secretariat in the preparation of a documentwith potential options for elements towards an international legally binding instrument, forconsideration at the second session of the INC, without in any way prejudging what the committee
might decide regarding the structure and provisions of the instrument. The document is to be based on
a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastics as called for by UNEA resolution
5/14, including identifying the objective, substantive provisions including core obligations, control
measures, and voluntary approaches, implementation measures, and means of implementation.
The template below is meant to assist Members and stakeholders to prepare their written submission asa guide. A number of documents prepared for INC-1 are of relevance, notably UNEP/PP/INC.1/5 on‘Potential elements, based on provisions in paragraphs 3 and 4 of United Nations Environment Assembly
resolution 5/14, including key concepts, procedures and mechanisms of legally binding multilateralagreements that may be relevant to furthering implementation and compliance under the futureinternational legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment’.
The template is divided into three sections:-Substantive elements-Implementation elements-

Additional input

All written submissions must be sent to unep-incplastic.secretariat@un.org. The statements received
will be compiled and made available the INC webpage.
Please note that it is not required for all fields to be answered in the template for submission.
Deadline for submissions:
6 January 2023 for written submissions from stakeholders.
10 February 2023 for written submissions from Members of the Committee.

1Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollution

TEMPLATE FOR SUBMISSIONSName of country(for Members of the committee)
Name of organization(for stakeholders to the committee)
Contact person and contact
information for the submission

Japan

Kotani Tomoe
Position: Deputy Director
Office: Global Environment Division, International
Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Email: tomoe.kotani@mofa.go.jp
Koike Shinya
Position: Deputy Director
Office: Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Division,
Industrial Science and Technology policy and Environmental
Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry
Email: koike-shinya@meti.go.jp
Ichikawa Tomoko
Position: Deputy Director
Office: Office of Policies against Marine Plastics Pollution,
Environment Management Bureau, Ministry of theEnvironment
Email: TOMOKO_ICHIKAWA@env.go.jp
Nagaosa Daisuke
Position: First Secretary
Office: Embassy of Japan in Kenya, Deputy Permanent
Representative of Japan to UNEP
Email: daisuke.nagaosa@mofa.go.jp
Yorita Yume
Position: Second Secretary
Office: Embassy of Japan in Kenya, UNEP Focal Point
Email: yume.yorita@mofa.go.jp

Date

13th February 2023

2Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic PollutionI.

Substantive elements

1. Objective(s)a) What objective(s) could be set out in the instrument?
Ⅰ Premises:
Due consideration should be given to the following points when we discuss substantive elementsof a plastic treaty (an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution);- Plastic pollution in marine and other environments needs to be tackled through a full-life-cycle
approach, taking into account national circumstances.
- Engagement by both plastic consuming and emitting countries is a key factor for effectiveness on
the treaty.
- Insufficiency of established scientific data on concrete negative impacts and risk of plastic
pollution on human health and the environment, and of appropriate methodologies formonitoring.
- Technological and scientific characteristics of plastics and the utility of certain plastics in thesocio-economic context- Avoiding overlapping with other international environmental agreements or regulations.
Ⅱ Objective:- A treaty must have general and simple objectives centered around the mitigation of adverse
impact by plastic pollution to the marine and other environments and biodiversity, and to protect
human health from potential risk, while recognizing the important role of plastics for society. Plastic isuseful and can be reused and recycled.
- Related risks of plastic pollution to human health should be carefully considered based on thefuture progress of scientific knowledge and evidence.
- To attain the objectives, we need to set a global common goal to reduce additional plastic
pollution particularly in the marine environment to zero by a certain year. The Osaka Blue Ocean
Vision is now shared by more than 80 countries and regions. Though the Vision’s target year is 2050,
now there is growing support to the target year 2040. We need to negotiate an ambitious goal
agreeable to all Members.
- The instrument should be facilitative, encouraging and promotional for society as a whole, actively
engaging various stakeholders towards ending plastic pollution.

2. Core obligations, control measures and voluntary approachesa) What core obligations, control measures and voluntary approaches would provide a comprehensive
approach to addressing plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, throughout the fulllife cycle in line with the future objective(s) of the instrument?

3Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollution

Members must establish an appropriate mechanism in the whole society to promote circular
economy on plastic and control plastic leakage into the marine and other environments.
To this end, Members must take necessary measures to promote plastic circularity measures
such as reduce, reuse, recycle and renewable measures in society, covering every stage of plastic
lifecycle, such as production, sales, consumption, waste management and disposal, taking into
account national circumstances. The approach of addressing every stage of plastic lifecycle is themost viable and effective to prevent plastic pollution.
Changes need to be made on demand side as well as on supply side. If the mindset and behaviorof people at the distribution and consumption stage change for example by awareness-raising, actionsof production side will change accordingly, responding to the demand side’s need. The instrument
should encourage such demand side management in addition to measures on the supply side to keepplastic production within sustainable levels.
- In such way, promotion of circular economy at every stage of the plastic lifecycle should bringabout nexus by mutual efforts. That said, when there are insufficient substantive measures taken toprevent the leakage of plastics into the environment, fundamental measures such as waste
management should be given priority as an effective response.
- The following illustrative effective measures for plastic circularity and its leakage prevention must
be reflected in National Action Plans which covers measures at every stage of plastic lifecycle, with aconcrete roadmap on the measures to attain the global goal until a target year by strengtheningMembers’ efforts over time, according to national circumstances.
Members' efforts and their achievement should be reported and reviewed periodically. Inaddition, checking the global progress made by all Members should be conducted.
Production stage
Reduce plastic use out of the loop of plastic circularity, including single use plastic
Enhance sustainable product design for the environment by production
improvement such as volume reduction, simplification of packaging, ensuring long lifeof plastics, reuse of parts, use of mono materials, making it easier to break apart, sortout and transport for ease of recycling
Promote evaluation of plastic product footprints on the environment, sharing
information on product materials, cooperation between stakeholders, andstandardization of product design and guideline
Develop and encourage use of substitute materials
Avoid production and use of plastics which are difficult to be collected and unable tobe recycled, also known as problematic plastics, and promote the shift to substitutematerials
Collect and recycle used plastics by production sectors (promotion of reuse,improvement of recycling rate of plastics)
Distribution/consumption stage
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Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollution-Reduce single-use plastics
Collect and recycle used plastics by distribution/consumption sectors (promotion ofreuse, improvement of recycling rate of plastics)
Raise awareness about the problem of global plastic pollution and the importance ofour behavioral changes in plastic use

Waste management and disposal stage
Develop national sound waste management policies based on the appropriate
priorities of waste management
Ensure nation-wide sorting, collection and recycling systems for plastics
Enhance recycling capacity in light of current usage levels and future projections toensure environmentally sound waste management
Prevent illegal dumping and littering, avoid open dumping and implement soundwaste disposal
Collect discharged plastics into the marine and other environments•Others(International/ Regional Cooperation, and other measures that can be adopted by future
Conference of Parties (to be considered in light of scientific and socio-economic assessments
and technological development))- The National Action Plans should include targets, actions and relevant indicators in the medium
term as well as long-term strategies towards the realization of the global goal and objectives of theinstrument.
- Technical research and development should be promoted to foster more innovative solutions toprevent plastic pollution, in broad relevant areas, including material recycling, chemical recycling,effective waste disposal, usage of biodegradable substitute plastics which do not harm theenvironment.
- In addition to requirements for National Action Plans, the instrument should adopt a set oftechnical guidelines for sustainability for the purpose of harmonizing definitions, improving productdesigns, measuring and reporting on progress, as necessary.
- Measures with regard to the production or use of plastics should not be one size fits all
restrictions such as imposing a blanket ban. Such measures need to take into account national
circumstances and its socioeconomic impacts including its effectiveness. The necessity to introduce
this type of restrictions should be carefully examined based on solid scientific evidence and throughdiscussions among experts including stakeholders.

5Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollution

II.

Implementation elements

1. Implementation measuresa) How to ensure implementation of the instrument at the national level (eg. role national actionplans contribute to meeting the objectives and obligations of the instrument?)b) How to ensure effectiveness of the instrument and have efficient national reporting?
c) Please provide any other relevant proposals or priorities here on implementation measures (forexample for scientific and technical cooperation and coordination as well as compliance).
National Action Plans- National Action Plans will constitute the most essential part of the instrument particularly withregard to accelerating country-driven actions to end plastic pollution, in addition to monitoring andevaluating implementation and progress.
A transparent and robust PDCA (Plan Do Check Action) mechanism for assessment of members'
actions should be introduced, based on standardized and periodic reporting and peer review. The
mechanism should ensure the continued strengthening of actions of individual countries and theircollective achievement over time towards the global goal. Assessing the global collective progress byMembers should also be conducted every 5 years.
- As mentioned above, the National Action Plans should include targets and actions in the medium
term as well as long-term strategies towards the realization of the global goal and objectives of theinstrument.
Ensuring transparent assessment of progress by Members, visualization of implementation
should be realized by using objective data and its evidence on measures in National Action Plan. Suchdata and its evidence include numerical information on production and consumption, leakage along
the value chain, waste generation, collection of waste, recycling (quantity/rates), collection ofdischarged plastics from the marine and other environments, policy targets and goals reflecting theglobal goal, detailed roadmap towards the realization of the targets and goals, and theirachievements.
- In this regard, it is important for each Member to strive towards visualizing domestic flows ofplastic in the plastic lifecycle and losses to and accumulated stocks in the environment as shown in
Figure 1 of UNEP/PP/INC.1/7. Such visualization would highlight priority areas for reducing plastic
pollution taking into account national circumstances.

2. Means of Implementation
With respect to means of implementation, document UNEP/PP/INC.1/5 covers the following elements:
capacity-building, technical assistance, technology transfer on mutually agreed terms and financialassistance.
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Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollutiona) What measures will be required to support the implementation of the instrument?
- Measures to support the implementation of the instrument should be targeted to those most in
need in relation to objectives and obligations of the instrument, taking into account the effectivenessof the assistance.
- To end plastic pollution, engagement by all stakeholders is critical to implement necessary
measures and mobilize financing they entail. It is important to utilize the existing public financialmechanism and resources from private sector as well to broaden the donor base.
- Sharing information among Members on best practice for technical methodologies to address
plastic pollution is effective and efficient to find viable solutions.
- For instance, under the G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter, morethan 50 countries have been submitting reports on their actions on an annual basis since 2019.
Information sharing and continued updating with peer learning helps identify areas where furtheraction is needed. Another example for sharing experience is the Regional Knowledge Center forMarine Plastic Debris (PKC-MP) which is also collecting good practices in the ASEAN+3 region.
-G20 report on Actions on Marine Plastic Litter: https://g20mpl.org/
The Regional Knowledge Center for Marine Plastic Debris (PKC-MP): https://rkcmpd-eria.org/
MARINE Initiative: https://www.mofa.go.jp/ic/ge/page25e_000317.html- Such existing initiatives and regional hubs for information sharing could assist the implementationof the instrument at the local, national, regional and international levels. Examples of the functions
may include: database and knowledge hubs, training center for capacity building, and expert review
on reporting activities.
- Targeted assistance is required to make the most of limited resources. The assistance should betargeted for the most effective measures for the recipient, for example, waste management, disposal
or recycling system whose scale and method are well-planned according to the national or regional
needs, examined in advance and regarded as the most effective and cost-efficient. The effectivenessof assistance is a key to tackling the plastic pollution.
There are various existing multilateral and bilateral support that can complement the supportunder the instrument. Japan is providing infrastructure development, through policy making,technical and capacity building on waste management and recycling.
The accumulation of scientific knowledge is the foundation of all measures. Enhancing scientificand technical capacities on monitoring of plastics in the environment and identification of sources
should be an essential element in the provision of support to ensure measurable progress at thenational, regional and global level.
As part of an existing suite of tools and techniques for comparable monitoring, there areguidelines for harmonizing methodologies of plastic monitoring in the environment, along with atraining program based on the guidelines provided by Japan.
7Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollution
Guidelines for Harmonizing Ocean Surface Microplastic Monitoring Methods:(https://www.env.go.jp/content/900515659.pdf)

III.

Additional input

Please provide any other relevant proposals or priorities here (for example introductory elements;
awareness-raising, education and exchange of information; research; stakeholder engagement;
institutional arrangements and final provisions).

Accumulation of scientific knowledge
Gathering and sharing scientific knowledge is crucial in considering the nature of the new
instrument and how to ensure its effectiveness. Definition on fundamental terms is necessary
including a common ground on the scope of this instrument.
There are various fields of scientific knowledge that must be involved, for example, onmonitoring and/or quantifying of the amount of discharged plastics, on environmental and humanhealth impact, and on technological innovation. It is necessary to consider how such fields relate to
the instrument in order to determine the most appropriate system for accumulating said field ofknowledge and how to conduct its assessment, while avoiding duplication with existing scientificbodies under relevant treaties, e.g. the Stockholm Convention and its POPRC.
Ensuring availability and periodical update of scientific knowledge is vital for informed decision
making and implementation of appropriate actions. One example of such information is the existence
and density of microplastics in the ocean. The instrument could build on Japan’s online database andmapping system for ocean surface microplastics generated by globally collected data based on theharmonized guidelines, which will soon be available online.
Expert group- Japan proposes establishing a technical expert group on plastic that may provide
recommendations to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee.
- The expert group will make necessary analysis including socio-economic aspect on plastic bydealing with usage of plastic in different environments, scientific evidence, and existing regulations,among others.
- The group should consist of experts, scientists, academia and other stakeholders such as industry
sectors.
- The recommendations could be utilized by INC to consider definition, standards and criteria in theinstrument.
Engagement by multi-stakeholders- Sharing views by multi-stakeholders is important to implement measures against plastic pollutions,taking into consideration the wide usage of plastic products today.
- We need an ambitious and effective approach to decide on the necessary measures so that abroad range of stakeholders can be engaged in their efforts to prevent plastic pollution and scale up
their actions over time.
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Proposed response template (16 December 2022) / INC on Plastic Pollution- The existing and evolving actions by stakeholders towards many environmentally friendly
approaches to end plastic pollution cannot be underestimated, and rather should be promoted to
expand as quickly as possible.
- In this sense, Japan supports the process of engagement by stakeholders including governments,
scientists, civil societies through multi-stakeholder forums, submissions, seminars and side events aswell as the participation to an abovementioned expert group to seek their proactive involvement.
Other items- Japan would like to further contribute to discussions among Members by providing more inputs onother items accordingly.

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