Talks on plastic pollution treaty end without agreement

Talks on a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution in Geneva ended without an agreement Friday as the session was adjourned with plans to resume at a later date.

- By JENNIFER McDERMOTT

A SCULPTURE by artist-activist Benjamin Von Wong at the U.N. plastics treaty conference in Geneva.

Nations worked for 11 days at the United Nations office to try to complete a landmark treaty to end the plastic pollution crisis. But they were deadlocked over whether the treaty should reduce exponential growth of plastic production and put global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels.

Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said despite the challenges and the disappointment, “we have to accept that significant progress was made.”

This process won't stop, she said, but it’s too soon to say how long it will take to get a treaty now.

The Youth Plastic Action Network was the only organization to speak at the closing meeting Friday. Comments from observers were cut off at the request of the U.S. and Kuwait after 24 hours of meetings and negotiating.

Like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the U.S. opposed cutting plastic production or banning chemical additives in the treaty. It supported provisions to improve waste collection and management, improve product design and drive recycling, reuse and other efforts to cut the plastic dumped into the environment.

A repeat of last year without a treaty

The negotiations at the U.N. hub were supposed to be the last round and produce the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the oceans. But just like at the meeting in South Korea last year, they left without a treaty.

Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the chair of the negotiating committee, wrote and presented two drafts of treaty text in Geneva based on the views expressed by the nations. The representatives from 184 countries did not agree to use either one as the basis for their negotiations.