(Busan Plastic Action & Busan KFEM)
Hello, everyone. My name is NOH Hyunseok, and I am a member of Busan Plastic Action and the Busan Federation for Environmental Movements.
Citizens living in this world of plastic, do you know how plastic first came into the world? In fact, it was created to save elephants. In the past, billiard balls were made from elephant ivory, and plastic was developed as a substitute for this material. This led to the invention of the first synthetic plastic in 1907 through research and development.
There is a saying about single-use plastics: it takes five seconds to produce, five minutes to use, and 500 years to decompose. It has been 117 years since the first plastic was made, not even 120 years. This means that the very first plastic ever produced still hasn’t decomposed. Each year, we produce over 400 million tons of plastic—much of which will take centuries to break down, if it even breaks down at all. Only about 9% of all plastic is recycled, while more than 20 million tons flow into our rivers and oceans every year. If this continues, the saying “half water, half fish” will be replaced with “half plastic, half fish” by 2050.
We are all aware of the harm caused by plastic pollution. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of delivery packaging, masks, and single-use plastics exploded under the guise of hygiene, but they have now become an environmental threat. Microplastics are found in our water, soil, and air. They enter our bodies and are detected in our lungs, intestines, liver, and blood. Alarmingly, research shows that microplastics accumulate more heavily in the brain than in other organs.
Perhaps this is why last year’s World Environment Day theme was “Beat Plastic Pollution,” and this year’s Earth Day theme was “Planet vs. Plastic.” Next year, World Environment Day will be held in Jeju, South Korea, with the theme “End Plastic Pollution.” The world is finally recognizing the severity of plastic pollution and working to address it. As citizens, we have also come here to face the reality of this crisis and raise our voices. However, if we don’t stop the excessive production of plastic, all these efforts and resolutions will be in vain.
Waste management is important, of course, but it’s even more critical to prioritize reducing plastic production before focusing on reuse and recycling. If we don’t turn off the endlessly flowing tap, no matter how hard we try to clean up the spill, it will eventually overflow. Plastic pollution has come too far for a single individual, company, or country to solve alone. Governments worldwide must establish regulations, and corporations must overhaul their production processes to create products with simpler designs and less plastic.
Even if we declare the elimination of plastic pollution today, it won’t disappear tomorrow. But we can choose which path to take moving forward. This is why next week’s INC-5 is so important. Unfortunately, while South Korea is hosting this crucial negotiation for a treaty to end plastic pollution, our government still hesitates to voice clear support for reducing plastic production. In times of crisis, we, the people of South Korea, have always stepped up to lead the way. Let us raise our voices together and call for the reduction of plastic production.
The government of South Korea must declare immediate action to reduce plastic production now!
Thank you.
(Baby Climate Plaintiff)
Hello, everyone. My name is KIM Hannah.
This past August, a climate lawsuit filed by children, youth, and citizens against the government was victorious. I participated in this lawsuit and, for the past three years, have stood in front of the National Assembly demanding an end to new coal power plants and advocating for coal phase-out legislation.
I have heard of lives lost due to heavy rainfall and witnessed devastating wildfires in Australia. Most of all, I experienced the impacts of climate change personally when I had to wear a mask in kindergarten during the COVID-19 pandemic. From a young age, I’ve faced the consequences of climate change and felt the need to raise my voice.
Today, I stand here to represent the voices of children on the issue of plastic.
I want to be honest. I would love to have more clothes, more dolls, and more shoes. But after learning that our planet is in crisis, my friends and I decided to let go of our desires. We try not to buy clothes, shoes, or dolls made of plastic. Instead of buying new things, we choose to use hand-me-downs or shop at flea markets. Why? Because the more we take, the more unbreathable our world will become, buried in endless, indestructible waste.
Abandoned plastic waste has created massive islands in our oceans. Precious marine life—whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and seabirds—are dying. And in our own bodies, how much microplastic has already accumulated?
Producing more plastic today means piling even more plastic onto an Earth already drowning in waste. It means trading the lives of Earth’s creatures, including our own, for plastic. Even at this moment, more plastic is being produced, releasing countless greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
It is already too late, and tomorrow will be even later.
Please, do not exchange the life of this planet for more plastic.
This is the task we all must take on now. Create a strong commitment that addresses the entire lifecycle of plastics—from production to distribution, use, disposal, and recycling. Such an agreement would replace mountains of deadly plastic waste with a sky full of stars. It would replace the microplastics in our bodies with clean, comforting breaths.
As a child activist, I will not give up. I will keep speaking out. So I ask you not to give up either.
Do not give up on this planet or the lives it sustains. Keep speaking, and most importantly, keep acting.
Thank you.
(Global Policy Advisor, Break Free From Plastic)
Hi everyone! My name is Semee, and like many of you, I am with Break Free From Plastic.
Today, we stand at a pivotal moment, on the eve of INC-5 -a moment that demands bold action, unwavering determination, and the courage to chart a new course. We are gathered here today first, to remind the members of the intergovernmental negotiating committee that to end plastic pollution we must reduce plastic production and second, to make sure that our demands as civil society are heard loud and clear.
Civil society offers solutions!
To end plastic pollution, governments must deliver binding rules and ambitious targets that drastically reduce plastic production. Instead of relying on voluntary national measures, we must have legally-binding rules across the full life cycle of plastics.
Not only that, we also need mandatory reporting and transparency across the entire plastics lifecycle because we can’t manage what we can’t measure!
As for toxic chemicals in plastics that harm our health and our environment, these must be eliminated! Instead of looking to unsustainable greenwashed fixes, we urge governments to enable reuse and zero waste systems! We have plenty of evidence that reuse and zero waste systems will help us achieve a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all! Members of the INC, are you waiting for?
Lastly, we call on governments to ensure that we have a strong financial mechanism—one that funds bold implementation measures and guarantees a just transition for all including workers, waste pickers and other informal workers and workers in cooperative settings, Indigenous Peoples and directly affected communities.
Let us march loudly together, to demonstrate our hope, ambition and expectations and to let the members of the committee know that we demand a future that protects people and the planet.
A new era free of plastic pollution is not just a dream—it is achievable, and it must begin now!
(Plastics Policy Officer for Asia Pacific, GAIA)
Good morning everyone! It is my absolute pleasure to share space with all of you, and represent the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, a network of over 1000 grassroot organizations and alliances from 92 countries unified in our vision of a just, Zero Waste world!
We are at a crossroads. The fifth and last scheduled round of negotiations marks the final sprint for a legally binding instrument that truly ends plastic pollution, through a comprehensive approach across the full life cycle of plastics, as mandated by UNEA Resolution 5/14. The decisions made over the next week will set the course for action on plastic pollution for years to come.
It is also the first meeting in Asia - one of the worst affected regions by the triple planetary crisis and among the largest plastic producers. We are dumping grounds for rich nations with imports of waste as high as 74% as well as burning technologies worsening the impacts faced by our communities.
Asia is also the home for Zero Waste solutions. We have a history of living in communion with nature and held strong ties as communities. The capitalistic model is still recent for us. Many cities in Asia including Seoul have shown success with reuse and SUP reduction.
All eyes are on Busan as world leaders convene to either demonstrate their promise of protecting our ecosystems, safeguarding our health, and staying within the 1.5 degrees boundary set by the Paris Agreement or fail our people and planet.
Jobs in the Petrochemical industry are declining as we speak. Meanwhile, jobs offered by reuse and repair businesses will continue to grow in a stronger regulatory regime.
The lifetime costs of plastics to the environment and people, including GHG emissions, waste management, and pollution, and excluding human health costs are at least ten times their market price. Worse, plastic pollution costs low-income countries 10 times what it costs high-income countries. So, to truly end plastic pollution, our leaders must agree on binding controls across the plastic life cycle, especially production phasedown.
To be fair, the agreement must ensure that the financial mechanism prioritizes reduction, redesign, and reuse through dedicated, sufficient, sustainable fund to support low-income countries and SIDS. The prospective agreement must centre principles of human rights and justice, polluter pays, do no harm, and provide just transition for Waste Pickers and other informal workers engaged in the plastics life cycle as well as Indigenous Peoples as key partners to the treaty. a
