Countries have deadlocked on a United Nations treaty on plastic pollution, according to The Associated Press. The treaty, with an aim of tackling worldwide plastic pollution, faced a hurdle due to negotiators not being able to get past the question of whether it should bring down the planet’s overall plastic while also having mandatory

Global Plastics Treaty negotiations ended this year without a legal agreement. Sabaa Khan shares what needs to happen next to end plastic pollution.

During the late-night meeting, countries supportive of legal obligations to cut plastic pollution refused to accept a treaty limited to voluntary measures. The treaty must take action at each stage of a plastic item’s life cycle, they asserted. That includes reducing how much plastic is made.

The meeting was the last stage in a two-year process, after more than 170 nations in March 2022 backed a historic UN resolution to end plastic pollution.

Diplomats at a United Nations conference in Busan, South Korea, failed to reach agreement on the world’s first treaty to tackle plastic pollution on Sunday. They said they would reconvene in future months to try again.

Very little of the world's plastic waste—about half of which comes from single-use plastics such as packaging, straws and disposable utensils—is recycled. Just 9% of the 353 million tons of plastic discarded in 2019 was recycled.

Negotiations on a treaty to end plastic pollution have concluded in Busan, South Korea without reaching an agreement

Delegates from more than 170 countries attempting to negotiate a treaty to curb global plastic pollution ended a weeklong meeting in Busan early Monday without an agreement, pushing talks to another session next year.

Delegates from more than 170 countries huddled for a week of marathon negotiations but came up short on delivering a treaty.

A summit many hoped would yield a landmark treaty to tackle a global plastic pollution crisis ended in disappointment after oil- and gas-producing countries pushed back on limiting production