GLOBAL plastic credit platform PCX revealed on Monday that it will join the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meeting as an official observer set on Nov. 13-19 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Nanette Medved-Po, PCX chairperson and founder, who will be part of the Philippine delegation, will be providing inputs on designing and implementing financing mechanisms to reduce plastic pollution, especially in the marine environment.
The INC is the high-level group directed by the United Nations to forge a landmark international law against plastic pollution.
In this third meeting, the INC is expected to cover the circular economy with the aim of establishing a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including the marine environment, by 2025.
“We actually could be the generation that solves the plastic pollution crisis. Even in a very imperfect world, we have proven that plastic waste can be cleaned up at scale. That signals that there is hope,” Ms. Medved-Po said.
She said PCX also aims to provide feedback and share insights during the meeting on how the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mechanism could be “effectively executed” given the group’s experience in dealing with compliance to the EPR Act in the Philippines.
Under the EPR Act, large corporations are directed to recover or divert at least 20% of their plastic packaging footprint by the end of 2023; then up to 40% by next year, and by another 10% every year until at least 80% is recovered or diverted by 2028.
Founded in 2019, PCX partners with companies and local governments to clean up plastic waste and divert it from nature by supporting accredited project partners that collect and responsibly process the waste in a fully traceable platform.
At present, PCX has diverted more than 55 million kilograms of plastic waste from nature and driven 67,000 tons of carbon reduction from coal replacement. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
