"Thousands of negotiators and observers representing most of the world’s nations are gathering in the Canadian city of Ottawa this week to craft a treaty to stop the rapidly escalating problem of plastic pollution.
Each day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. People are increasingly breathing, eating and drinking tiny plastic particles.
Negotiators must streamline the existing treaty draft and decide its scope: whether it will focus on human health and the environment, limit the actual production of plastic, restrict some chemicals used in plastics, or any combination of the above. These are elements that a self-named “high ambition coalition” of countries want to see.
Alternatively, the agreement could have a more limited scope and focus on plastic waste and greater recycling, as some of the plastic-producing and oil and gas exporters want."
Jennifer McDermott reports for the Associated Press April 23, 2024.
SEE ALSO:
"Plastic Pollution Is Surging, So What Are Governments Doing?" (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
"What To Know About The Pivotal UN Plastics Negotiations" (The Hill)
"Talks For A Plastic Pollution Treaty Are Stalling. Could The U.S. Be Doing More?" (NPR)
"Global Plastic Treaty Talks Are Happening. What Do Stakeholders Want?" (Reuters)
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