Recital 47

(47) Furthermore, discussions at international level within the different meetings of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Programme (‘INC on Plastic Pollution’), have demonstrated at international level the need to step up action concerning the separate collection of plastics to limit their environmental impacts and to boost the circular economy in order to prevent the generation of waste and reduce the exploitation of natural resources. They also demonstrated the will of the contracting parties to adopt measures in that direction. The Convention on long-range transboundary air pollution (24), done in Geneva on 14 November 1979, requires the parties to that Convention to protect the environment against air pollution and to endeavour to limit and, as far as possible, gradually reduce and prevent air pollution, including long-range transboundary air pollution. Under the Convention on the protection and use of transboundary watercourses and international lakes (25), done in Helsinki on 17 March 1992, the parties are required to take measures to prevent, control and reduce any transboundary impact of water pollution. In line with the 1992 Rio Declaration of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution. Hence, industrial activities such as recycling of plastic, should go hand in hand with pollution prevention and reduction measures.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-08-26 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.