Can the world regulate plastics?

Next week, negotiators meet in Geneva to finalise the UN’s historic Global Plastics Treaty, originally announced in 2022. The additional session was scheduled after years of tense international disagreement.

Bertie talks to Punyathorn ‘Arm’ Jeungsmarn, Plastics Campaign Researcher at the Environmental Justice Foundation. Arm attended previous rounds of the UN talks, and recently worked on research about problematic solutions to plastic pollution.

Arm discusses his experience of the negotiations and the influence of industry lobbying, as well as issues around the implementation of policies addressing plastic waste – from bioplastics to recycling.  

Further reading:  

• False solutions unmasking policy gaps in addressing plastic pollution in Thailand and Southeast Asia, Environmental Justice Foundation, 2025 
• A global treaty to limit plastic pollution is within reach – will countries seize the moment? The Conversation, 2025   
• Room for Reduction: Towards sustainable production and consumption of plastics in Thailand, Environmental Justice Foundation, 2024   
• There is so much to say about plastic pollution. Why are we not talking about it? Land and Climate Review, 2023 

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