GENEVA, Switzerland – UN-led negotiations to secure the world’s first treaty to end plastic pollution have collapsed for a second time in less than a year, as countries remain bitterly divided over whether to curb production or focus on recycling.
The latest round of talks in Geneva – the sixth in just under three years – was meant to conclude on Thursday.
Instead, delegates negotiated late into the night, hoping to break the deadlock, but failed to reach consensus.
More than 100 nations, including the UK and members of the European Union, pushed for a legally binding cap on plastic production, arguing that tackling the problem at its source is the only way to stem the flow of waste into the environment.
Opposing them were major oil-producing states such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, which want the treaty to prioritize waste management and recycling rather than production limits.
“We have missed a historic opportunity, but we have to keep going,” a Cuban delegate said in the early hours.
Island nations, among the most vulnerable to environmental crises, voiced frustration.
Speaking on behalf of small island states, Palau’s delegation said: “We are repeatedly returning home with insufficient progress to show our people. It is unjust for us to face the brunt of yet another global environmental crisis we contribute minimally to.”
Plastic production has surged from two million tonnes in 1950 to 475 million in 2022, with scientists warning that without intervention it will keep rising.
Microplastics – tiny fragments formed as plastics break down – have been detected in soil, rivers, the air, and even human organs, carrying potentially toxic chemicals.
While oil states and industry lobbyists argue plastics are essential to modern life and that substitutes could cause “unintended consequences”, environmental experts say recycling alone cannot solve the problem.
Global recycling rates stand at just 10%, and even optimistic projections suggest they will not exceed 30% in coming decades.
“Improving recycling is essential, but it will never be enough to address the scale of the crisis,” said Dr Costas Velis, associate professor in waste and resource engineering at Imperial College London.
Some major consumer goods companies, including Nestlé and Unilever, have backed production limits and harmonised global design rules to make recycling easier, such as standardising bottle colours.
They also support adding levies to plastic products to fund waste management – a measure campaigners say could generate $576 billion by 2040.
Negotiations were convened in 2022 in response to mounting evidence of plastics’ impact on health and the environment.
The original deadline for a treaty was December 2024, but the collapse of this latest meeting pushes the timeline back further.
Greenpeace accused oil-producing nations of blocking progress to protect fossil fuel interests.
“The inability to reach an agreement in Geneva must be a wake-up call for the world,” said Graham Forbes, the group’s head of delegation. “Ending plastic pollution means confronting fossil fuel interests head on. A handful of bad actors were allowed to drive ambition into the ground.”
Ecuador’s Luis Vayas, chair of the talks, produced a revised draft treaty text that aligned more closely with the demands of pro-production-cap nations, calling it “a good basis for future negotiations”.
But with oil states openly unhappy – Saudi Arabia calling the process “problematic” and Kuwait saying its views were “not reflected” – the path to a binding global treaty remains fraught.
