Launch of the Plastic Waste Partnership under the Basel Convention

Background

At its fourteenth meeting, in its decision BC-14/13 , the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (187 members), among others:

• welcomed the proposal to establish the Basel Convention Partnership on Plastic Waste and decided to establish the Partnership and its working group;
• adopted the terms of reference for the Partnership; and
• requested the working group to implement its workplan for the biennium 2020−2021.

The aim of the Partnership is to mobilize the resources and expertise of governments, industry, intergovernmental organisations, academia and civil society to promote the environmentally sound management of plastic waste at the global, regional and national levels and to prevent and minimize its generation.

Membership of the working group is open to Parties to the Basel Convention and others dealing with the different aspects of prevention, minimization and management of plastic waste as well as the Basel and Stockholm Conventions Regional and Coordinating Centres and the Regional Seas Programmes, which have specific expertise and experience required for the activities of the Partnership, and which satisfy certain criteria, as specified in the terms of reference. Further information on membership is available here.

Launch

The official launch of the Basel Convention Partnership on Plastic Waste and to the reception that will follow took place in Geneva at the Palais Eynard, on Tuesday 12 November 2019 . The event has been generously sponsored by the Government of Norway. The Executive Council of the City of Geneva is kindly hosting the event and the Geneva Environment Network has been supported its organization.

The event was moderated by British television presenter and National Geographic Expedition Leader and Explorer, Mr. Paul Rose.

The launch began with opening remarks provided by the following speakers:

• Mr. Antonio Hodgers, President of the Geneva State Council
• His Excellency Mr. Hans Brattskar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva
• Mr. Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

The highlight of the event was an interactive dialogue during which the following participants shared their views on challenges and opportunities in tackling the global plastic waste challenge and the critical role the PWP can play.

• Mr. Ole Thomas Thommesen, Norway, Co-Chair of the PWP
• Mr. Ross Bartley, Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), Co-Chair of the PWP
• Deputy Ambassador Mr. Alexander Grant Ntrakwa, of the Ghanaian Permanent Mission to the European Offices of the UN, WTO and other International Organizations in Geneva and Vienna
• Mr. Osvaldo Patricio Álvarez‐Pérez, President of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention
• Mr. Matthew Kilgarriff, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Richemont International SA
• Ms. Giulia Carlini, Staff Attorney, Environmental Health Program, Centre for International Environmental Law, Geneva
• His Excellency Mr. François Gave, Deputy Ambassador, Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Switzerland

Video

Video of the event available on BRS MEAs Youtube channel.

Links

• Plastic Waste Partnership
• Launch of the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Partnership, 12 November 2019, Geneva

Contact

Please contact Susan Wingfield (susan.wingfield@brsmeas.org) or Melisa Lim (melisa.lim@brsmeas.org) for further information on the Partnership.