Global negotiators inch closer to treaty to combat plastic pollution

International negotiators have agreed to draft a treaty to end plastic pollution, with a draft due in November. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said that the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee concluded in Paris with a mandate for the committee’s chair to prepare a draft before the next session in Nairobi, Kenya, in November. The UNEP Executive Director urged member states to continue their momentum toward creating a treaty on this topic, and said products should be redesigned to use less plastic, especially those “unnecessary and problematic.”