Plastic pollution talks fail as negotiators in Geneva reject draft treaties

NGOs say deadlock over legally binding deal to curb production and toxic chemicals is blow to multilateralism'

Global talks to reach agreement on a treaty aimed at ending the growing scourge of plastic pollution have collapsed, with no deal agreed and no clear path forward.

Countries worked beyond Thursday's deadline into the night and Friday morning, but remained deadlocked on the issue that has dogged talks since they were launched, amid fervent optimism, in 2022: whether to reduce exponential growth of plastic production and place global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics.