REUTERS, Geneva

Talks to create the world’s first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution are at risk of ending without a deal as countries race to find a potential compromise on the final day of negotiations in Geneva.

Talks headed into their final hours yesterday after countries who want an ambitious plastics treaty threw out the text proposed on Wednesday.

States pushing for a comprehensive treaty, including Panama, Kenya, France and Britain, shared frustration that key articles on the full life cycle of plastic pollution from the production of polymers to the disposal of waste, as well as the harm to health, had been removed entirely from the text.

Oil-producing nations are against curbs on the production of virgin plastics derived from petroleum, coal, and gas, while others want it to be limited and to have stricter controls over plastic products and hazardous chemicals.

“It’s proving unlikely all countries will be able to bridge their differences,” said Zaynab Sadan of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), adding that agreement was as far away as it had ever been in nearly three years of talks.

Panama described the new draft text as “repulsive” and called for a complete rewrite. Saudi Arabia, which is resisting major curbs, said nothing could be agreed until the treaty’s scope is clearly defined.

More than 1,000 delegates have gathered in Geneva for the sixth round of talks, after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) in South Korea late last year ended without a deal.

The OECD warns that without intervention, plastic production will triple by 2060, further choking oceans, harming health, and exacerbating climate change.