Plastic Pollution: Multilateralism in Action

The Zero-Waste Day, celebrated on 30 March, addressed multiple facets of waste, including plastic waste. The GCH wanted to share good news in that occasion: while the global treaty on plastic pollution is still under negotiation, multilateral cooperation is already delivering concrete results.

During a recent meeting of the Local and Subnational Governments Coalition To End Plastic Pollution with the newly appointed Chair of INC negotiation process, H.E. Julio Cordano, several encouraging signals emerged. The Chair expressed openness to proposals, a strong commitment to an inclusive and continuous process with all stakeholders. The Coalition reaffirmed its position that local and regional/subnational governments (LRGs) must play a central role in tackling plastic pollution—particularly in capacity building, awareness-raising, monitoring, reporting, and contributing to national action plans.

While the global plastics treaty may still take several years to materialize, action is already underway across multilateral platforms.

At the regional level, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has adopted new limits on tyre abrasion  which all our vehicles emit constantly. The implementation of those rules would reduce one of the most worrying sources of microplastic pollution.

At the global level, trade is also part of the solution to reduce plastic pollution and decrease waste. At the WTO Ministerial Conference (Yaoundé, March 2026), ministers adopted a statement under the Dialogue on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade ( Ref WT/MIN(26)/21). Notably, the declaration recognizes the role of local authorities, including in Article 4.5 of Outcome A y Article 2.1 of Outcome C, reinforcing the importance of multi-level governance in addressing plastic pollution.

Together, these developments demonstrate that environment and waste-related multilateralism make progress and the role of LRGs is increasingly recognized (as we well the importance for the implementation of the agreements). Even as negotiations on the Plastic Pollution Global treaty continue, coordinated international action is already shaping solutions to one of the planet’s most urgent environmental challenges.

📸 Tim Mossholder on Unsplash