With months until crunch talks on the world’s first binding treaty on plastic pollution, experts are meeting in Bangkok to discuss financing options and problematic plastics.
The four-day gathering is a largely technical waypoint on the road to final negotiations in late November in South Korea’s Busan.
There, countries are hoping to seal a potentially groundbreaking deal to tackle the gargantuan problem of plastic pollution.
The scale of the issue is almost unprecedented — microplastics have been found in the deepest ocean trenches, highest mountain peaks, in clouds and even breastmilk.
Plastic production has doubled in 20 years and at current rates it could triple by 2060, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Yet over 90 percent of plastic is not recycled, with much of it dumped in nature or buried in landfills.
Negotiators have already met four times to discuss a deal that could include …