Global discussions to create a significant treaty to eliminate plastic pollution have again reached a stalemate.
The UN negotiations, marking the sixth round within nearly three years, were scheduled to conclude on Thursday, but countries persisted into the night trying to resolve the impasse.
A division remains between a coalition of roughly 100 nations advocating for restrictions on plastic production and oil-producing states that emphasize recycling.
In the early hours, Cuban representatives expressed that countries had “missed a historic opportunity but we have to keep going”.
“I’m hugely disappointed that an agreement wasn’t reached,” commented the UK’s Marine Minister, Emma Hardy. “Plastic pollution is a global crisis that no country can solve alone, and the UK is committed to working with others at home and abroad to protect the environment and pave the way to a circular economy,” she added.
Initiated in 2022, these talks responded to escalating scientific findings on the dangers of plastic pollution to both human health and the environment. Despite plastics’ advantages across numerous sectors, scientists express worry over the potentially toxic chemicals they contain, which might leach as plastics degrade into smaller pieces.
Microplastics have been found in soils, rivers, air, and even within human organs.
Countries originally aimed to finalize a deal by the end of December last year but did not meet this timeline. The breakdown of the most recent discussions signifies further delays.
Representing the island states, the northern Pacific nation, Palau, stated on Friday, “We are repeatedly returning home with insufficient progress to show our people.” They added, “It is unjust for us to face the brunt of yet another global environmental crisis we contribute minimally to.”
The core disagreement among countries remains whether the treaty should address plastics at their source by curbing production or concentrate on managing the resultant pollution.
Major oil-producing nations view plastics, derived from fossil fuels, as crucial to their economic futures, especially as the world moves away from petrol and diesel toward electric vehicles.
This group, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, argues that improved waste collection and recycling infrastructure is the best solution, a perspective shared by many producers.
“Plastics are fundamental for modern life – they go in everything,” said Ross Eisenberg, president of America’s Plastic Makers, a trade association for the US plastic production industry. “Focusing on ending plastic pollution should be the priority here, not ending plastic production,” he added, cautioning against unintended consequences from attempts to replace plastics with other materials.
However, many researchers caution against this approach, citing global recycling rates are only about 10%, with limits to how much higher they can go.
“Even if we manage to boost that over the next few decades to 15, 20, 30%, it would remain a substantial amount that is polluting the environment and damaging human health,” said Dr. Costas Velis, associate professor in Waste and Resource Engineering at Imperial College London. “Therefore, we do need to improve recycling… but we cannot really hope that this is going to solve all the aspects of plastic,” he added.
Plastic production has already increased from two million tonnes in 1950 to about 475 million in 2022 and is expected to keep rising without additional measures.
About 100 countries, including the UK and EU bloc, pushed for limiting production in the treaty and more uniform global design to make recycling simpler. This could be as straightforward as requiring plastic bottles to be one color, as dyed products fetch half the value of clear bottles.
This strategy received backing from major plastic packagers like Nestle and Unilever, part of the Business Coalition led by the Ellen McArthur Foundation. The Coalition also advocated for aligning national schemes to impose a small levy on plastic products to fund recycling efforts, known as extended producer responsibility.
The group estimates this could double revenues for countries to $576bn (£425bn) from now until 2040.
Talks were supposed to end on Thursday, but negotiations continued overnight in the hopes of breaking the deadlock. The chair, Luis Vayas from Ecuador, presented a new text seemingly more aligned with the UK’s stance.
The text did not suggest curbs to plastic production, but it did mention nations taking individual measures to address other issues like harmful plastic chemicals and designing plastics for easier recycling.
The EU delegation remarked at the final meeting, “We see the outcome of this session as a good basis of future negotiations.” However, oil states remained deeply discontented. Saudi Arabia found the negotiation process “problematic,” while Kuwait said its views were “not reflected.”
Reacting to the breakdown, many environmental groups criticized what they saw as oil states prioritizing profit over planetary health.
Graham Forbes, Greenpeace’s head of delegation to the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, stated: “The inability to reach an agreement in Geneva must be a wake-up call for the world: ending plastic pollution means confronting fossil fuel interests head-on. The vast majority of governments want a strong agreement, yet a handful of bad actors were allowed to use process