Plastics on the Peak: Eliminating releases of plastic waste in mountainous regions

Organized by the governments of Austria and Georgia, at the end of May GRID-Arendal and UNEP moderated a 90-minute webinar on Plastics on the Peak: Eliminating releases of plastic waste in mountainous regions. Organised a few days ahead of the start of the 2nd Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution, the webinar brought together experts from across member states of the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) to End Plastic Pollution to discuss the relevance of mountain regions to the upcoming plastics treaty. Here are some of the key takeaways from the event.

Participants

Irma Gurguliani, INC focal point from Georgia and Deputy Head of the Waste and Chemicals Management Department in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, kicked off the meeting. Georgia aspires to focus on waste prevention and recycling, taking actions to prevent plastic pollution and reusing plastics as much as possible. Georgia has taken effective steps towards prevention of plastic waste since 2018 and largely follows rules and regulations of the European Union.

Renate Paumann, the INC focal point from Austria and policy officer at the Federal Ministry for climate action, environment, energy, mobility, technology and innovation, continued emphasising the importance of mountains as water repositories, cradles of biodiversity, and their economic importance in the form of tourism. However, at present, the issue of plastic waste and microplastics in mountains does not attract much attention in policy changes. Paumann said it is clear that the future plastic treaty needs to recognize plastic waste in mountains, with new measures put in place to address the entire lifecycle of plastics.

Merhnoosh Azodi from the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Secretariat gave a presentation to set the stage of the webinar. Waste management in mountainous areas faces an inherent problem: their remoteness. The altitude, harsh environmental conditions, low levels of development and infrastructure, make controlling and collecting waste difficult. As a consequence, it leads to insufficient legal and institutional frameworks, difficulties with monitoring mountain areas for waste, and securing financing. To address these inherent problems, Azodi identified 4 key areas to address plastics on mountains in terms of policy needs, infrastructure, financing, and outreach.

Panel discussion

After the presentation, the webinar opened up to a panel discussion to focus on the solutions for addressing plastics waste in mountainous regions. In addition to Gurguliani and Paumann, Kika Bradford from Acceso PanAm, Raghav Mahto from Doko Recyclers, and Gael Le Roux from the University of Toulouse joined the panel.

To open the panel discussion, Melissa de Kock from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) asked “what are the specific challenges in regards to plastic to plastic management that you see for mountainous regions, and what are some of the solutions you’ve experience in your daily work?”

Le Roux responded to the question by acknowledging the issues that Azodi had emphasized in her presentation, and in addition highlighted climate change for its impact on mountains. He further explained that his research with colleagues from around the globe has demonstrated that mountains are frequently exposed to nano and micro plastic fallout from lowland areas. For larger scale plastics, targeting campaigns against illegal dumping linked to tourism is a first step, and encouraging tourists to either take out all waste they bring in, or not bring in plastics at all.

Mahto highlighted the critical role that informal waste pickers play in Nepal’s waste management. However, the logistical cost of bringing waste down from the mountain puts a serious damper on the effectiveness of removing waste. Setting up waste recycling facilities in communities has had some success in recovering plastics.

Bradford emphasised the importance of changing behaviours and addressing historical practices at a local level. These can trickle up to policy makers to inform them on the kinds of waste that is being seen, what practices are having an impact, and empowering local communities.

Waste surrounds a woman in Nepal. Tina Schoolmeester.

The panel agreed it is critical to move mountain areas from the margins to the center of attention of plastics discussions and address the whole life cycle of plastics. Alliances between tourism, local communities, national governments, civil society and international organizations are key to ensure plastic waste-free peaks for current and future generations.

The webinar also included a number of other perspectives, including questions and comments from the audience. Make sure to listen to the live recording of the event if you want to find out more.