CLEVELAND, Ohio – Global negotiations to address plastic pollution collapsed in Geneva, Switzerland, last August after countries rejected two draft treaties.
The Geneva talks, launched with optimism in 2022, broke down after representatives from 184 countries could not agree on whether to reduce plastic production or place legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used in plastics, according to an account in The Guardian.
France’s minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said she was “disappointed” and “angry” that a handful of countries “guided by short-term financial interests” had blocked an ambitious treaty, The Guardian reported.
France, the EU and more than 100 countries “did everything possible” to obtain an agreement to reduce plastic production, ban dangerous products and protect human health, she said.
While a solution on a global scale has yet to be attained, activists in the United States continue to apply pressure to the plastics industry and hope that a political solution can be reached to curb production of plastics, especially those they view as unnecessary.
Demonstrators with the People Over Petro Coalition, which represents organizations in the Ohio River Valley, made themselves heard in Cleveland last week as they rallied during the AMI Plastics World Expos at Huntington Convention Center.
And for the second year in a row, the activists were quite creative.
Last year, demonstrators projected slogans on the Main Avenue Bridge while attendees of the AMI Plastics World Expos enjoyed cocktails in the Flats below.
“Recycling is really an excuse to make more plastic,” one of the illuminated signs read.
This year, the star was “Bessie,” a monster sculpture made of plastic trash pulled from the Cuyahoga River. Eddie Olschansky, a 36-year-old environmentalist who leads Trash Fish, piloted the creation as it made its way up the river past a rally at Settler’s Landing Park.
Olschansky and two local artists sculpted Bessie using bottles, shoes, balls and other items collected from the river. “This is the maiden voyage,” Olschansky said after docking at Canal Basin Park. “It was made for this event.”
The People Over Petro Coalition organized the rally to draw attention to the harmful effects of plastic pollution, including health risks from inhaling and ingesting microplastics that find their way into bodies through drinking water and food.
Kathy Smachlo, a retired internist who used to be with the Case Western Reserve University Health Service, said the mission is not to get rid of all plastics, just those seen as unnecessary, including much of the packaging material. The coalition is also concerned about harmful chemicals added to plastics, such as PFAS, known as forever chemicals.
Only about 9% of all plastic in the world is recycled, with most winding up in the environment, in landfills or incinerated into toxic emissions. “So those are three lousy options,” Smachlo said.
The AMI Plastics World Expos, based in England, has brought its global meet-up to Cleveland the past six years, drawn by the region’s legacy of plastics manufacturing and convenient location, said Patrick Dicks, market manager for AMI.
Industry representatives acknowledged the protesters’ criticisms, but said plastic has become essential to modern life.
“It’s often portrayed as black and white and it’s not black and white,” said Silke Einschutz, senior consultant for recycling and sustainability at AMI. She said people’s lifestyles are built on plastic — from clothes to cars to phones — and the road ahead is complex.
Joao Maia, a professor in the macromolecular science and engineering department at Case Western Reserve University, said he has no problem with protests but believes eliminating large amounts of plastics is not an option unless people are willing to give up the benefits they provide.
“We are trying to make plastics sustainable, because plastics are not going anywhere,” said Maia, who was scheduled to speak at the expo on how AI and machine learning are influencing plastic production.
Sherri Mason, who directs a program at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, to research freshwater plastic pollution, was invited to the rally but could not attend. But she was there in spirit.
She said she’s not anti-plastic, just “anti-stupid plastic,” much of which goes into packaging.
Expecting the public to voluntarily give up the conveniences plastic provides may not be realistic, Mason said, “and this is why policy is so important.”
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