Sharjah24 - Reuters: The first round of negotiations on a global plastics treaty ended on Friday with agreement to end plastic pollution but a split on whether goals and efforts should be global and mandatory, or voluntary and country-led.
More than 2,000 delegates from 160 countries, meeting in Uruguay in the first of a planned five sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), aim to craft the first legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by the end of 2024.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, saying plastics were "fossil fuels in another form," urged nations to crack down on pollution and production.
"I call on countries to look beyond waste and turn off the tap on plastic," he said on Twitter.
United Nations members agreed in March to create the treaty to deal with the scourge of plastic waste but they differ on major issues, including whether to limit plastic production, phase outs types of plastics and harmonise global rules.
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