Talks to create a UN treaty to end plastics pollution adjourned Monday morning without reaching a conclusion. The talks, which took place in in Busan, South Korea, aimed to develop an international binding agreement on plastic pollution, addressing the full lifecycle of plastic. They will resume next year.

What were the aims of the talks?

Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) 5 brought together more than 170 nations and 440 observer nations aimed to develop an international treaty for tackling plastic pollution, primarily to create universal rules around plastic pollution that can be applied worldwide.

Every country has its own unique policy on plastic pollution, but the aim of the treaty was to develop a universal one. The treaty, if it had been signed, would have been legally binding.

Led by organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the talks aimed to fulfil the 2022 resolution to adopt such a treaty.

The treaty would be “an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, which could include both binding and voluntary approaches, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the life cycle of plastic,” an INC Secretariat spokesperson told FoodNavigator.

The treaty would aim to take into account the circumstances and capabilities of the involved nations, and also align with the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which was signed in 1992 to guide countries towards greater sustainable development.

Why was the treaty postponed?

The talks in Busan were the fifth in the negotiations around the treaty. According to initial plans, they were also to be the final.

However, in the words of Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, there remained “persisting divergence” in the views of the delegates. A chair’s text was written as a starting point for the next set of negotiations.

A group of 95 countries, for example, would not accept the treaty without binding global phaseouts and bans of certain plastic products and chemicals of concern, according to WWF.

Despite alignment of more than 100 nations, universal agreement ‘remains elusive’, said a spokesperson for the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty. The treaty required unanimous support to be agreed on.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation took an optimistic view of the negotiations. “It’s encouraging to see such a strong majority of countries supporting global rules across the plastics lifecycle. We urge them to hold on to their ambition and agree to an impactful treaty that sets the global rules that business needs to unlock solutions at scale to end plastic pollution,” said Rob Opsomer, the organisation’s lead on plastics and finance.

However, some organisations were critical of the delay. WWF, for example, suggested that certain nations had been holding up the negotiations.

“For too long, a small minority of states have held the negotiation process hostage. It is abundantly clear that these countries have no intention of finding a meaningful solution to this crisis and yet they continue to prevent the large majority of states who do. It is unjust that those who bear the greatest burden of plastic pollution are being denied the opportunity to forge a solution among themselves by those profiteering off the unregulated production and consumption of plastic. It is increasingly clear that the majority of states that are committed to securing a meaningful agreement with the necessary binding measures to end plastic pollution must be ready to vote or adopt a treaty-of-the-willing,” said WWF’s global plastics treaty lead Eirik Lindebjerg.