Trash Talkers, Global Negotiations on How to Deal with the World's Plastic Problems Stool.

Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm Sarah Rogers.

Talks on the world's first legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution are coming to an end.

And so far, there's no deal. More than 100 countries

gathered under UN framework have rejected the latest draft. Plastic is a multi-billion dollar

industry, which has revolutionized global commerce, but left a costly environmental footprint.

BBC's Katie Silver joins me on Marketplace. Hi, Katie. Hi. So these

talks, they've been going on for two weeks, but there have been talks way before this and still no

sign of an agreement. What are the sticking points here? Two weeks this time around,

but it's the fifth time that they've spoken and failed to reach an agreement. Countries are

divided between the majority who want to cap what's known as virgin plastic

production.

So that's plastic production that's fueled by petrol, coal and gas, as opposed to other

countries like the US and companies that produce petrochemicals.

So there's a group of oil producingproducing states that include the likes of

Saudi Arabia and Russia who want a lighter touch regulation. They have called themselves the

like-minded group. And Kuwait, for example, who spoke for it, said that this text that was proposed

went behind the group's red lines. And the US has previously urged some countries to reject some key parts

of this treaty as well. I mean, what are the chances of reaching any kind of agreement on the last day?

Things aren't looking good. There was a lot of mud throwing when it came to, for example,

smaller countries saying that it lacked ambition, that it was not going to be legally

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