"Countries Split On Plastics Treaty Focus As U.N. Talks Close"

"WASHINGTON - 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.

The negotiations in the coastal city of Punta del Este pitted a "High Ambition Coalition," including European Union members, against countries including the United States and Saudi Arabia, which have the world's top plastic and petrochemical companies."

Valerie Volcovici reports for Reuters December 2, 2022.