Overview

A new Plastic Waste Partnership has been established to mobilise business, government, academic and civil society resources, interests and expertise to improve and promote the environmentally sound management of plastic waste at the global, regional and national levels and to prevent and minimize its generation.

The Partnership promotes action and encourages dialogue between governments, regional and local authorities, Regional Seas Programmes, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and academia towards the ultimate goal of reducing significantly and, in the long-term, eliminating the discharge of plastic waste and microplastics into the environment, in particular the marine environment.

The Partnership activities include to:

• Collect information and undertake analysis on environmental, health, economic and social impacts of global, regional and national policy frameworks and strategies relevant to prevention, minimization, collection and environmentally sound management of plastic waste;
• Identify the gaps and barriers to the prevention, minimization, collection and environmentally sound management of plastic waste and identify best practices, lessons learnt and possible solutions to the same; 
• Promote the development of policy, regulation and strategies on the prevention and minimization of plastic waste, in particular in relation to single-use plastics, inter alia, via better design and innovation to improve durability, reusability, reparability and recyclability of plastics and to avoid hazardous substances in plastics and on environmentally sound management of plastic waste, taking into account the entire life cycle of plastics; 
• Advance prevention, minimization, collection and environmentally sound management of plastic waste;
• Undertake pilot projects which support the delivery of the other overall tasks;
• Collect, analyse and consider possibilities to improve information on transboundary movements of plastic waste;
• Facilitate knowledge sharing, capacity building, technical advice, and technology transfer to strengthen and implement policies, strategies, public-private initiatives for the prevention, minimization, collection and environmentally sound management of plastic waste; 
• Undertake and contribute to outreach, education and awareness raising activities to widely disseminate the information and knowledge gathered and generated through the activities of the Partnership; 
• Encourage and promote relevant innovation, research and development.

The Partnership activities will be carried out by its working group, which is administered by the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.  The terms of reference for the Partnership outlines its workplan for 2020/21 and its working modalities.

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