Countries urged to 'hold the line' in talks over world's first plastics treaty

Talks between nations to hammer out a treaty to end plastic pollution continued behind closed doors in Geneva yesterday, the final day of negotiations, as civil society groups urged countries to "hold the line" to secure a strong agreement.

- Karen McVeigh Emma Bryce Geneva

With time running out to seal a deal between 184 countries, environmental groups expressed concern that frontline communities, indigenous people and others suffering the worst impacts of the world's growing plastic crisis were being "sold out" in an effort to secure a treaty, without meaningful or legally binding measures that would address the scale of the problem, "at any cost".

This week's negotiations towards a legally binding agreement to tackle plastic pollution are the latest in five rounds of talks over the past two and a half years, which have so far failed to seal a deal.

Talks had stalled after a consensus draft treaty, presented by the chair, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, was rejected by 80 countries. The ambitious countries that want curbs on production described it as "unacceptable", a "lowest common denominator" and a toothless waste-management instrument because it did not include production caps nor address chemicals used in plastic products.