Plastic treaty document weaker, scientist says

A new informal document for global plastics treaty talks suggests negotiations are moving toward a less ambitious deal, British marine biologist Richard Thompson told AFP on Tuesday.

The document was released at the weekend after treaty talks collapsed in August 2025. Julio Cordano of Chile, who chairs the talks, said it was an “informal reference document” and not a negotiated or agreed text.

Thompson, a Plymouth University researcher who coined the term microplastics and has served as an independent scientific observer to the talks, said the document was very similar to the rejected draft from a year earlier and “even slightly weaker.”

Environmental groups also criticised the document. David Azoulay of the Center for International Environmental Law said in a statement on Monday that it failed present and future generations.

Negotiators from 185 countries have been divided between a majority seeking legally binding measures to curb plastic production and a smaller bloc of mostly oil-producing states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Russia, that wants a narrower focus on waste management. Cordano said an updated negotiating aid will be prepared after informal talks in Bangkok from September 27 to 30, before formal UN Environment Programme negotiations scheduled for March 2027.