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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Stuti Mishra

UN plastic pollution talks end in ‘abject failure’ as negotiators reject draft treaties

Passers-by watch a demonstration by the World Wildlife Fund against plastic waste during the ongoing plastics treaty negotiations in front of the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, 13 August, 2025 (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) - (KEYSTONE / MARTIAL TREZZINI)

Once again, global negotiations to secure a treaty to end plastic pollution have ended without agreement, after two weeks of talks in Geneva exposed irreconcilable divisions between petrochemical-producing nations and countries pushing for production caps.

Despite three years of negotiations and mounting evidence of the health and environmental toll of plastics, delegates failed to agree on whether it should stop the growth of plastic production and regulate harmful chemicals internationally.

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