Why the World Is Deadlocked Over a Treaty to Stop Plastics Pollution

New York Times

2 days ago

Negotiations over the first-ever global treaty on plastic pollution, launched with great hope in 2022, were supposed to set the world on a path to tackle the explosive growth in plastic waste.
Instead, they have become the latest example of the United Nations' painstakingly slow and deadlock-prone negotiation-by-consensus.
After 10 days of what was scheduled to be the final round of talks, countries had not agreed on a single article in the larger treaty, including one that would seek to curb plastic production, an approach opposed by nations that produce plastic and its petrochemical building blocks.
But the majority of nations at the talks have supported curbs on plastic production, saying the plastic waste problem needs to be addressed at the source.
They have pointed to eye-popping statistics: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that, without global action to curb plastic pollution, plastic production between 2020 and 2040 will grow by 70 percent to 736 million tons.
Overall, less than 10 percent of global plastic waste was estimated to have been recycled in 2020, the rest disposed of in landfills, incinerated, or released into the environment.
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