Nations fail to deliver U.N. treaty on cleaning up plastic pollution

BUSAN, South Korea - Global talks to forge a landmark treaty aimed at reducing plastic pollution broke down after negotiators from more than 170 countries remained deadlocked over how to curb the world’s growing mountain of plastic waste.

The marathon negotiations in this port city collapsed early Monday, local time, after participants could not agree on the best path forward. More than 100 countries favored measures to ratchet back plastic production, while oil-rich nations pushed back, arguing that the world should target plastic pollution, not plastic itself.

Under U.N. rules, delegates must reach a consensus to pass a binding deal. Negotiators said they hope to resume talks next year.

The breakdown came after a week of late-night negotiations involving hundreds of diplomats as plastic industry officials and environmentalists watched from the sidelines in the hallways of the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center. The outcome underscores the difficulties in dialing back the use of a material that is ubiquitous and underpins a global multibillion-dollar industry.

“We must switch gears” at the next meeting, said Erin Silsbe, the head of the Canadian delegation. “It’s time to end plastic pollution, as the world can no longer wait.”

Each year, the world produces more than 450 million metric tons of plastic, mostly from fossil fuels, and generates 350 million metric tons of plastic waste. About half of that waste is dumped into landfills, according to figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Another 19% is incinerated, while less than 10% gets recycled. A little less than a quarter is mismanaged, with some of it ending up in rivers and oceans.

More than five dozen countries led by Norway and Rwanda, along with allies such as Greenpeace, had pushed for a treaty that would limit plastic production, ban certain chemicals from everyday products and contain measures to enforce such an agreement.

Panama’s Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, whose delegation had proposed a global target to cut down plastic production, described the talks as a “moral failure.”

“Colleagues, we didn’t accept a weak treaty here, and we never will,” he said. “To the 120 nations standing for ambition, I say: Let us be relentless. We may have been delayed, but we will not be stopped.”

Others, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and trade groups such as the American Chemistry Council, opposed capping plastic production and backed a voluntary, nonbinding treaty that focused on improving waste management instead.

“If you can stop plastic pollution, there should be no problem with producing plastics,” Saudi Arabia’s representative Abdulrahman Al Gwaiz said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, whose nation hosted the talks, urged his colleagues to not give up and to schedule another conference to reach a final deal.

“The progress we have made is real,” he said. “Compromise is not a sign of weakness. … We cannot allow perfection to become the enemy of progress.”

The inability to reach an agreement at Busan didn’t come as a surprise to many participants. The latest round of talks kicked off on Nov. 25 amid a mood of cautious optimism, but by the sixth day of negotiations, it became clear that consensus was out of reach.

Delegates from several countries, including those from oil-producing nations as well as some developing ones, such as India, argued that it was important not to block economic progress by limiting plastic production.

“The solutions in the past century have always come from technology,” Al Gwaiz said.

The Biden administration had sought a middle ground at the talks, saying last week that it supports the broader goal of reducing plastic pollution but that it opposes mandatory production limits. The United States ranks as the world’s top plastic waste contributor, according to a 2021 report by the National Academy of Sciences, producing almost twice as much as China, and more than the entire European Union combined.

The return of Donald Trump to the White House next month was not lost on negotiators, according to one African negotiator who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly. Delegates were concerned that Washington would become more hostile to a plastics treaty under Trump, he said.

The talks in Busan were the culmination of two years of fast-tracked negotiations on plastics. In 2022, the U.N. Environment Assembly, which represents all 193 member states, said it would create a binding treaty by 2024 that would tackle the world’s “high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution.” Member countries met nearly half-a-dozen times to craft an agreement, and had hoped to finalize it in South Korea.

The disappointing results came despite a near-consensus among participants that without urgent action to combat plastic pollution, global warming would be likely to intensify. Most plastics are made from fossil fuels in a process that can spew toxic and planet-warming gases.

Negotiators hoping to impose stricter limits on plastic waste openly expressed their displeasure in the final hours of the talks.

“We share the unhappiness that can be felt in this room,” remarked Hugo-Maria Schally, the E.U. adviser for international environmental negotiations, during the plenary.

And when Rwanda’s delegate, Juliet Kabera, urged her colleagues “to stand up for ambition,” the room broke out into applause and dozens of negotiators rose to their feet, clapping.

Countries on both sides of the plastics debate said they’re willing to continue negotiations, using the latest 22-page draft text of the treaty as a starting point. Some negotiators pointed to the length of the text, which shrank from 73 pages at the beginning of the talks, as a sign of progress.

Chris Jahn, council secretary of the International Council of Chemical Associations, an industry group, said it is crucial talks remain “focused on addressing the primary cause of plastic pollution - mismanaged waste.”

Advocacy groups, meanwhile, reiterated the need for a more sweeping deal.

Graham Forbes, the head of Greenpeace’s delegation to the talks, said “the opportunity to secure an impactful plastics treaty that protects our health, biodiversity and climate remains within reach.”

Anja Brandon, Ocean Conservancy’s director of plastics policy, urged the incoming Trump administration to stay engaged, adding that a majority of Americans see plastic entering the ocean as “a pressing issue. We hope that any administration will respect the will of the people and recognize the responsibility and opportunity for the U.S. to be part of the solution.”

Allyson Chiu in Washington contributed to this report.