OTTAWA, CANADA - The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has reported significant progress in talks this week in Ottawa to draw up the world’s first treaty curbing plastic pollution next year.

Since its introduction in the 1950s, a staggering 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, with seven billion tonnes of those ending up as waste.

Today around 430 million tonnes of waste plastics are generated each year with that figure projected to triple by 2060.

The meeting which ended on Monday brought more than 2,500 delegates from 170 Member States to Canada’s capital to discuss new global rules on how plastics are produced, used, disposed of and recycled.

Progress achieved

Discussing the draft, delegates focused on emissions, production, waste management, and financing. A legal drafting group will be established during the next round of talks to be held in the South Korean city of Busan.

"We leave Ottawa having achieved both goals and a clear path to landing an ambitious deal in Busan ahead of us," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

After the elements of the draft text are reviewed in November, the ambitious objective set before the negotiators is to have an historic treaty ready for signing in mid-2025.

“It has been an ambitious timeline of just 18 months and four sessions to get us to this point, and we are now firmly on the road to Busan. Compromise and commitment remain strong at this advanced stage of the negotiations,” said Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the negotiating committeesecretariat (INC).

She underscored that the process was crucial for “saving future generations from the global scourge of plastic pollution”.