Nations not pliable on plastic waste taking over the world

A final round of talks on a treaty to curb plastic pollution opened this week, with deep differences between nations emerging almost immediately.

- 

The meeting started just hours after a chaotic end to the COP29 climate talks in Baku, where delegates agreed to a boost in climate funding that developing countries slammed as insufficient.

Opening the plastics meeting, the Ecuadorian diplomat chairing the talks warned nations the conference was about "far more than drafting an international treaty".

"It is about humanity rising to meet an existential challenge," Luis Vayas Valdivieso said.

Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that it has been found in clouds, the deepest ocean trenches and even human breast milk.