No common ground as clock ticks on global plastic pollution treaty

Negotiators trying to secure a global agreement on tackling the scourge of plastic pollution were frantically trying to find common ground with just hours left on Thursday.

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NEGOTIATORS trying to secure a global agreement on tackling the scourge of plastic pollution were frantically trying to find common ground with just hours left on Thursday.

Countries wanting bold action to turn the tide on plastic garbage were trying to build last-minute bridges with a group of oil-producing nations -- after three years of talks.

"We need to have a coherent global treaty. We can't do it on our own," Kenya's Environment Minister Deborah Barasa told AFP. Kenya is in the High Ambition Coalition group of countries.

Barasa suggested nations could strike a treaty now, then work in some of the finer details further down the line.

"We need to come to a middle ground. There's some compromise that may need to be done, and then we can have a stepwise approach in terms of building up this treaty... and end plastic pollution.

"We need to leave with the treaty."