Plastic waste: Further struggle for agreements – negotiations are postponed

The hoped -for agreement on a global agreement against plastic waste is still a long time coming. After three years of negotiations and a ten -day final round in Geneva, the contract should actually be under roof and subject until Thursday evening. After intensive efforts with the glimmer of hope for an approximation, the conference chairman postponed the meeting of the 180 countries at shortly before midnight to Friday. At first remained open at the beginning.

“Since the consultations about my revised text draft are still ongoing, this plenary session will be postponed and continued on August 15, 2025 at a time to be determined,” said the chairman of the conference, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, in Geneva late Thursday evening. The official end of the negotiations was originally set for midnight.

A legally binding contract is to be negotiated in order to contain the tons of plastic waste that destroy ecosystems and endanger people’s health. The contract is intended to include the entire life cycle of the plastic, from production to design to the handling of waste.

Around the text takes place between two groups: Germany and more than 100 other countries want to limit plastic production to a sustainable level, move disposable plastic such as cutlery, cups and packaging and rely on reusable products, recycling and circular economy. On the other hand, there are countries that have the raw material for the plastic: oil. Among them are Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia. These countries do everything to prevent production restrictions.

The negotiations in Geneva with representatives from 184 states follow the failed talks in the South Korean Busan from last December. These discussions should have already been the last round of negotiations for a plastic agreement. At the ten -day conference in Geneva, the negotiators had now hoped for a breakthrough.

Plastic is filled with seas, environment and air, kills fish and other living things and endangers human health. The smallest particles are increasingly found in organs and also in the brain. According to the Federal Ministry of the Environment, plastics production has sorted out to 367 million tons a year from the 1970s by 2020 and could reach almost 600 million tons a year without measures. A large part therefore make up disposable products, including packaging. According to estimates, 152 million tons of plastic waste have accumulated in rivers and oceans.