Governments failed to reach an agreement on Monday for a global UN treaty to curb plastic pollution in Busan, South Korea, after proposals to cap its production were rejected by a handful of oil-producing nations.
Producing plastics, from Barbie dolls to water bottles, generates large amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, while the accumulation of plastic products in the environment pollutes land and oceans.
Negotiations began in 2022 over a UN treaty that aimed to create the world’s first legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by the end of 2024 - a deadline which will now be missed after the fifth round of talks ended without a deal.
More than 100 countries supported a proposal to reduce plastic production, the most divisive issue in the talks, while petrochemical-producing nations like Saudi Arabia were only prepared to agree on a deal tackling plastic waste.
Plastic production is set to triple by 2050 and could account for 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions compared to 5 per cent in 2019, according to a report earlier this year by the US federal Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
So, what environmental impacts are caused by plastic, and how can countries address the issue?
Why is plastic a problem?
Plastics are causing widespread pollution on land and at sea, causing harm to human health and damaging vulnerable marine habitats such as coral reefs and mangroves.
Between 400,000 and 1 million people are estimated to die each year in developing countries because of diseases such as diarrhoea and cancer-related to plastics and other mismanaged waste, according to a 2019 report by the charity Tearfund.
The production of plastics also plays a part in climate change, because it is made from fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
Through their life cycle, plastics emit 3.4 per cent of global planet-heating emissions, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
How much plastic waste is recycled?
Around the world, only 9 per cent of plastic waste is recycled, according to the OECD, which predicts that global plastic waste is on track to almost triple to 1.2 billion tonnes in 2060 from 460 million tons in 2019.
