World will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert

Countries must curb production now and tackle plastic's full life cycle, says Norwegian minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim ahead of key UN talks this week

The world will be unable to cope" with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of key countries has warned ahead of crunch talks on curbing global plastic pollution.

Speaking before the final, critical round of UN talks on the first global treaty to end plastic waste, in Busan, South Korea, this week, Norway's minister for international development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, acknowledged the split that had developed between plastic-producing countries and others. She represents more than 60 high ambition" nations, led by Rwanda and Norway, who want plastic pollution tackled over its full life cycle. Crucially, this means clamping down heavily on production.