8 h. ago Talks stall on world’s first plastic pollution treaty one day before deadline

Almost 100 countries reject draft treaty as ‘unambitious’ and ‘inadequate’Talks on the world’s first legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution have stalled just one day before the negotiations are due to end.Some of the countries calling for an ambitious treaty to include targets to reduce plastic production, including Colombia, the EU and the UK, have rejected as “unacceptable” and “unambitious” a draft treaty text that does not include production caps, nor address chemicals used in plastic products. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Soap, wristbands and scaling the UN: People get creative during final plastic pollution treaty talks

A Swiss ocean protection group is handing out bars of soap to negotiators working on a global accord to end plastic pollution

Sport

20 h. ago Plastic treaty talks nearing collapse as nations remain deadlocked on production

Environmental organisations warn that without urgent compromises the session could fail to produce a treaty capable of tackling the scale of the crisis

Events

40 h. ago Groups seek to influence plastic pollution treaty talks at the UN as negotiations wind down

Environmentalists and Indigenous leaders held signs in front of the United Nations buildings in Geneva where talks for a global accord to end plastic pollution are taking place

Politics

44 h. ago Buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover: how nurdles are polluting the oceans

Millions of the tiny plastic pellets are being washed up on the coast of Kerala in India in the latest in a series of global spills, as plastic treaty talks continue in GenevaWhen a Liberian-flagged container ship, the MSC Elsa 3, capsized and sank 13 miles off the coast of Kerala, in India, on 25 May, a state-wide disaster was quickly declared. A long oil slick from the 184-metre vessel, which was carrying hazardous cargo, was partially tackled by aircraft-borne dispersants, while a salvage operation sealed tanks to prevent leaks.But almost three months later, a more insidious and persistent environmental catastrophe is continuing along the ecologically fragile coast of the Arabian Sea. Among the 643 containers onboard were 71,500 sacks of tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles. By July, only 7,920 were reportedly recovered. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago Artist drowns sculpture in plastic waste in front of the UN during plastic pollution treaty talks

As nations began a second week of negotiations Monday for a global accord to end plastic pollution, an artist heaped piles of plastic waste onto a large sculpture in front of the United Nations office

Events

5 d. ago Plastic treaty talks overrun by fossil fuel lobbyists, campaigners say

Campaigners warn of ‘crisis of credibility’ as number of lobbyists attending plastics treaty negotiations rises

Politics

6 d. ago More than 200 lobbyists at UN’s plastic treaty talks will limit progress, campaigners warn

Environmental group says industry figures will be obstructive and aim to reduce overall ambition of meetingMore than 200 industry lobbyists are attending the UN’s meeting to hammer out a global plastics treaty, raising fears that moves to prevent runaway plastic production may be undermined.The 234 lobbyists from the oil, petrochemical and plastics industries outnumber the combined delegations of all 27 EU member states, and far exceed the number of people attending with the delegation of scientists as well as Indigenous peoples at the Geneva talks. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago The Guardian view on plastic pollution: global action is desperately needed to deal with this scourge | Editorial

Delegates at UN treaty talks must not allow negotiations to be derailed again by fossil fuel interestsPlastic pollution has reached the most remote and inaccessible parts of our beleaguered planet. It has been found in Greenland’s ice cap, near the summit of Mount Everest, and in the deepest depths of the western Pacific Ocean. Nature programmes have sounded the alarm over a human-made crisis that has become an environmental scourge and a serious threat to our health. Yet global production of plastics is on course to triple to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060, after increasing by more than 200 times over the past 75 years.This gloomy backdrop should inject a sense of urgency into UN-convened talks in Switzerland this week, aimed at agreeing a binding global plastics treaty. In 2022, when 173 countries committed to work towards such an accord, there was widespread relief that at last a multilateral route was to be taken towards solving a quintessentially global problem. Sadl...

Economics

8 d. ago UN plastic pollution talks must result in ambitious treaty, leading expert says

Professor Richard Thompson, a marine litter expert, says delegates must act decisively to ‘look next generation in the eye’Delegates at the UN plastic pollution treaty talks in Geneva must secure an ambitious global agreement so they can look future generations in the eye, one of the world’s leading marine litter experts has said.Prof Richard Thompson, who was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people this year for his groundbreaking work on plastic pollution, said decisive action was needed to protect human health and the planet. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Plastics a ‘grave’ danger to health, scientists warn before UN talks

Experts say materials are harmful ‘at every stage’ of human life, as diplomats hold talks on global treaty

Events

1 week ago Countries under pressure to finalise UN plastic pollution treaty as talks resume

Countries are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where they will hope to break a deadlock in talks for a legally binding agreement on plastics.

Events