[POLICY BRIEF] Addressing Plastics from Bottled Water: Towards a Global Governance Framework

25 November 2024

The commodification of plastic bottled water has allowed governments to abdicate their responsibility of providing access to safe, clean drinking water

Ahead of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5), Azul partnered with Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD, a leading expert in environmental policy and public policy on water management and solid waste management and professor at the Laboratory of Methodology of the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO) in Mexico, on a policy brief focused on the critical importance of the governance of bottled water to reduce plastic pollution and guarantee access to clean water as a basic human right.

The brief highlights how the commodification of plastic bottled water has allowed governments to abdicate their responsibility of providing access to safe, clean drinking water.

“Plastic-bottled water allows governments to abdicate their responsibility to provide us with access to safe drinking water,” said Pacheco-Vega. “The fact that there is consumption of bottled water in plastic is fundamentally the result of governments abdicating their obligation to provide sufficient quantities of water to society. We, as citizens, have to demand an active participation of governments in negotiations such as INC-5 and to hold them fully accountable, both in the governance of bottled water and in the governance of plastics.”

“Plastic bottled water places a price on a basic human right – the right to access clean and safe drinking water. Growing up in Mexico, we never questioned the prevalence and need to drink out of plastic bottled water,” said Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, Founder and Executive Director of Azul. “Dr. Pacheco-Vega’s body of work and research is a welcome clarification of the real problem and, more importantly, possible paths forward.”

The brief also offers Azul’s essential plastic pollution policy recommendations, including the reduction of plastic production globally, as well as transparency standards for identifying and eliminating chemicals of concern across the plastics lifecycle.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE POLICY BRIEF [Also available in Spanish]

Executive Summary

The rapid rise of bottled water consumption has commodified a basic human right, intensifying the global plastics crisis. Due to limited access to reliable tap water, aggressive marketing, and inadequate regulatory frameworks, bottled water has become a widespread alternative, generating an enormous volume of single-use plastic waste. This reliance fuels fossil-based plastic production, with waste now polluting oceans, rivers, and ecosystems at an alarming rate.

Addressing this issue demands a coordinated, multi-scalar approach. A global plastics treaty, endorsed by nearly 180 countries, represents a critical step toward reducing plastic pollution. This agreement can foster essential advances in regulation, recycling, and sustainable production practices. Solutions must operate at multiple levels:

Global: A binding plastics treaty that coordinates across nations, successfully reduces plastic pollution across the plastics life cycle, truly protects human health, and minimizes climate impacts.

National: Harmonizing policies to increase coordination across national and subnational scales for plastic management.

Local: Srengthening waste management systems integrating the formal and the informal, as well as empowering and educating citizens to shift away from single-use plastics.

In sum, a collaborative, multi-level strategy is therefore essential to restore water as a public good, to minimize reliance on disposable plastics, and simultaneously address the global negative impact of plastic waste.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE POLICY BRIEF [Also available in Spanish]

TAKE ACTION: 

➡️ Sign Azul’s petition to the U.S. State Department calling on the U.S. to support a strong and ambitious Global Plastics Treaty

Related Materials:

• 2024 National Azul Poll
• Plastic Pollution Impacts on SDGs – Azul Infographic
• Azul Statement on INC-4 Plastic Pollution Treaty Negotiations in Canada
• Azul joins Latin American Leaders in Nairobi to Issue Statement at Conclusion of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution’s Third Session (INC-3)
• Azul Statement on INC-2 Plastic Pollution Treaty Negotiations in Paris