Global negotiations on a treaty to end plastic pollution at critical phase in Canada

For the first time, negotiators from most of the world’s nations are discussing actual text for what is supposed to become a global treaty to end plastic pollution. Delegates and observers at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in Ottawa called it a welcome sign that talk has shifted from ideas to treaty language at this fourth of five scheduled summits. Most contentious is the idea of limiting how much plastic is manufactured globally. That idea remains in the text at this stage over the strong objections of plastic-producing countries and companies and oil and gas exporters. The Ottawa session was expected to end late Monday or early Tuesday.