New push to reach plastic pollution pact

Agence France Presse reports that the coming 10 days of talks involving delegates from nearly 180 nations follows a failure to reach a deal last December on how to stop millions of tonnes of plastic waste entering the environment each year.

Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peak, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body.

In 2022, countries agreed they would find a way to address the crisis by the end of 2024, but the talks in Busan, South Korea failed to overcome fundamental differences.

“You have over 300 brackets in the text, which means you have over 300 disagreements,” said Bjorn Beeler, executive director and international coordinator at IPEN, a global network aimed at limiting toxic chemicals. “So 300 disagreements have to be addressed.”

The most divisive issue is whether to restrict production of new plastic, with petroleum-producing nations like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia opposing limits.

Read the full AFP story here.