Plastic treaty talks behind schedule amid deadlock over production limitations

With the world still divided over how ambitious its first plastics treaty should be, nations are considering introducing a series of smaller sized meetings before a hopedfor contract in December.

Countries still require to select whether the treaty should call for lowering the quantity of plastics produced.

Throughout the recently of settlements in Canada's capital, Ottawa, more than 60 countries demanded the treaty include production caps.

The European Union along with Rwanda, Peru, Norway, Ghana, and other governments calling themselves the High-Ambition Union said arbitrators must spend the next few months studying whether some kinds of plastics can be decreased.

With plastic production on track to triple by 2050, such levels are unsustainable and far surpass our recycling and waste management capacities, stated Rwanda chief mediator Juliet Kabera.

Rwanda and Peru have proposed developing standard levels for the amount of plastic needed and used in each country to prevent overproduction.

Such efforts to target production are dealing with staunch opposition from some petrochemical-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and China. They have argued that the time before the last top in Busan, Korea, would be much better invested focused on less fractious subjects such as managing plastic waste.

China's lead arbitrator in Ottawa, Yang Xiaoling, stated countries should be focused on non-contentious topics, such as revamping plastic items so that they utilize less plastic or are more quickly recyclable.

On the last day of talks in Ottawa on Monday, countries split into working groups to focus on solving information of the hoped-for treaty, including how the work ought to be funded.

In revealing the prepare for working groups to continue negotiating in coming months, the chair of the talks, Luis Vayas Valdivieso of Ecuador, did not say whether production limits would continue to be in conversation.

No country has objected to the plan for intersessional working groups, unlike during the November settlements in Nairobi when Saudi Arabia obstructed deal with the draft treaty outside of the main tops.

Countless people signed up to attend the Ottawa talks, including hundreds of lobbyists representing the fossil fuel and chemical markets.

(source: Reuters)