plastic pollution

The negotiations in Busan, South Korea, were supposed to be the fifth and final round to produce the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution, including in the oceans, by the end of 2024. But with time running out early Monday, negotiators agreed to resume the talks next year. They don’t yet have firm plans.

Negotiators gathered in Busan, South Korea, on Monday in a final push to create a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution.

Delegates will meet soon in South Korea in their last scheduled gathering to get a grip on plastic pollution, with health and the environment on the line.

Plastic pollution is changing the processes of the entire Earth system, exacerbating climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and the use of freshwater and land, according to scientific analysis.

Experts meet in Bangkok this week to advance what would be the first international treaty to tackle the surging problem of plastic pollution. Final treaty negotiations take place in South Korea in November.

In lieu of clear legislation, many individuals, communities and environmental groups are banding together to sue the makers of single-use plastic products, looking to address the gap with litigation.

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The inconvenient truth remains: plastic production is not only ongoing but expanding, fuelled by government subsidies.

Plastic pollution in the ocean has multiplied tenfold since 1980.

Most Canadians support a crackdown on single-use plastics and less plastic production, a new poll indicates just weeks before international negotiations kick off in Ottawa on a global plastics treaty.

A recent report by the non-profit Center for Climate Integrity chronicles a “decades-long campaign of fraud and deception” from Big Oil and the plastics industry to promote recycling as a solution to the plastic pollution crisis.

Consensus has so far been elusive at the negotiations, with Ottawa set to host the next round in April. Environmental groups have accused some oil-producing countries and industry groups of stall tactics in an effort to water down the treaty before negotiations wrap up at the end of next year.

A Federal Court decision that quashed the legal foundations of Canada's plastic regulations might not spell the end of the government's efforts to tackle the plastic pollution problem, observers say.

In March 2022, 175 countries agreed to write a global treaty to address the plastic pollution crisis. Now, a year and a half later, they have a rough draft.

A UN treaty to reduce plastic pollution could be a game changer for the environment. Activists who collect plastic for a living want to make sure it takes their jobs into account.