Negotiators will take another stab at reaching a global pact on plastic pollution at talks opening Tuesday in Geneva but they face deep divisions over how to tackle the health and ecological hazard.
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.
One group of countries sought an ambitious globally binding agreement to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals.
However, a group of mostly oil-producing nations rejected production limits and wanted to focus on treating waste. The stakes are high. If nothing is done, global plastic consumption could triple by 2060, according to OECD projections.
Meanwhile, plastic waste in soils and waterways is expected to surge 50 percent by 2040, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which is acting as the secretariat for the talks.
Some 460 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is single-use. And less than 10 percent of plastic waste is recycled.
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