August 7, 2025 – Today we witnessed another day of intense negotiations.  On the positive side, more than 120 countries support the concept of introducing a dedicated health article in the plastic treaty, something that would greatly help align the plastic treaty to the tobacco treaty.

Also, a number of countries supported the development of criteria and a non-exhaustive list of problematic single-use plastics that could be considered for elimination at the national level.

And it was also encouraging to see a very active civil society presence in these negotiations. On the less positive side, a not insignificant number of countries opposed the introduction of a health article in the treaty and opposed the introduction of criteria or a list of plastics to phase out, suggesting that countries should determine individually what products to phase out.

In addition, a report from the Center for International Environmental Law exposed that an even larger number of industry lobbyists were in attendance at these treaty negotiations than in previous rounds.

ASH’s Key Points for INC-5.2 are available to review in: English