South Korea, Japan, China aim to complete global plastic reduction pact

Seoul, Sep 29 (IANS) South Korea, China and Japan agreed on Sunday to work more closely to complete negotiations for an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, Seoul’s environment ministry said.

The commitment was made after the ministers of the three nations held a two-day ministerial meeting on South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju from Saturday to discuss ways of enhancing trilateral cooperation on various environmental challenges, including plastic pollution, climate change and yellow dust, according to the ministry.

“The three nations agreed to actively take part in the upcoming negotiations on plastic pollution reduction set to take place in November in Busan to make tangible progress,” Minister Kim Wan-sup told a press briefing, reports Yonhap news agency.

The fifth and final round of meetings of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on plastic pollution is scheduled to be held in the southern port city of Busan in November, which aims to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

The three nations also agreed to boost cooperation to mitigate yellow dust levels, particularly in partnership with Mongolia.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Kim held one-on-one talks with his Chinese counterpart, Huang Runqiu, and the Japanese environment minister, Ito Shintaro.

During the meeting with Ito, Kim asked for continued consultation between the two nations regarding Japan’s release of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

China called on the Japanese side to establish an international monitoring system swiftly to alleviate concerns, officials said.

Around 69 per cent of the world’s plastic waste emissions come from 20 countries, of which four are low-income countries, nine are lower-middle-income countries and seven are upper-middle-income.

According to a new study published in the journal Nature, high-income countries have higher plastic waste generation rates, but none are ranked in the top 90 polluters, as most have 100 per cent collection coverage and controlled disposal.

—IANS

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