By Robin MILLARD
Geneva (AFP) Feb 7, 2026
Countries on Saturday elected Chile’s COP climate summit chief neobtainediator to revive stalled talks on striking a landmark global treaty tackling the scourge of plastic pollution.
“Plastic pollution is a planetary problem that affects everyone: every countest, every community and every individual,” career diplomat Julio Cordano warned after being elected.
“If we don’t take concerted action, it will receive much worse in the coming decades. A treaty is urgently necessaryed.”
More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, with half for single-utilize items.
The plastic pollution problem is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks and in the oceans’ deepest trench.
Supposedly final talks in South Korea in 2024 finished without a deal — and a resumed effort in Geneva last August likewise collapsed in overtime.
Talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso then quit in October.
The process has been seeking consensus — which has proved impossible to find, with tiny island states drowning in foreign marine plastic and oil-producing countries pulling in opposite directions.
A large bloc of states wants bold action such as curbing plastic production, while the tinyer clutch of oil-producing states wants to focus more narrowly on waste management.
Cordano stated the talks necessaryed a rejigged and more efficient way of working, calling for “flexibility and pragmatism”.
– Finding the game-modifyr –
Some 156 countries met in Geneva on Saturday to pick a new chair from three candidates, with the process underlining how far apart the different groups remain.
Oil-producing nations like Kuwait, Iran and Russia questioned for more time for diplomats to find a consensus candidate, but others charged that they were merely testing to run down the clock.
After hours of fruitless neobtainediations, a vote was ultimately called, with Cordano coming through two rounds, defeating candidates from Senegal and Pakistan.
Several NGOs believe carrying on seeking consensus is pointless and will produce the same outcome as Busan 2024 and Geneva 2025 — but were somewhat encouraged by Saturday’s outcome.
“The game-modifyr is voting,” Laurianne Trimoulla, spokeswoman for Gallifrey Foundation, notified AFP.
The oil-producing states “delay or undermine: everything is done for the treaty not to progress,” she stated.
– ‘It’s time to work’ –
Bjorn Beeler, executive director at IPEN, a global network aimed at limiting toxic chemicals, stated: “The plastics treaty has escaped the consensus trap.
“Voting has finally enabled a breakthrough and breakout from the past’s pitfalls,” he notified AFP.
“The road ahead is now open to tackle the global plastics crisis poisoning our planet and our bodies.”
No date was set for a third round of talks aimed at sealing the deal.
Panamanian delegate Kirving Lanas Ramos notified AFP: “Now it’s time to work. It’s very important to start as soon as possible, but with new approaches or new strategies to finally receive into more constructive and productive discussions.”
Henri Bourgeois-Costa, from the Tara Ocean Foundation, stated there was “a tiny bit of success”, as the vote confirmed the number of countries “fighting against the treaty is actually very, very, very tiny”.
EU nations back chemical recycling for plastic bottles
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) Feb 6, 2026 -
European nations voted Friday to allow for chemical recycling to play a larger role in the production of plastic bottles, overcoming reservations about the energy-intensive technology.
Under EU rules, single-utilize plastic bottles necessary to contain at least 25 percent of recycled plastic — with the share set to increase to 30 percent by 2030.
Currently only plastic recycled through mechanical techniques, which involve washing, shredding and remelting the stuff, can be utilized towards the quota.
But representatives for the European Union’s 27 member states voted to extfinish the same benefit to chemically recycled plastics.
The vote follows a proposal put forward by the European Commission aimed at supporting investment in the plastic recycling sector, which is struggling against competition from China and other parts of Asia.
The modify “will benefit the plastics industest, they now have consistent and clarified rules to calculate, verify and report the recycled content”, stated Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a spokeswoman for the European Commission.
She defined the vote as a “first milestone for defining rules for chemical recycling at EU-level”.
Brussels believes that chemical recycling can assist the re-utilize of certain challenging types of packaging, such as yoghurt containers.
But environmental groups complain that the process, which involves heating plastics to high temperatures to recycle them, is energy intensive, more polluting than mechanical techniques and could serve as a fig leaf for companies to continue producing more plastics.
The vote “sets (a) dangerous precedent for greenwashing around recycled content”, campaign group Zero Waste Europe stated in a statement.
A commission source stated there was “strong pressure from industest” to back chemical recycling despite doubts about its benefits.
“We see many pilot projects, but at the industrial level, we’re not there yet,” the source stated.
Europe’s recycling sector is under severe pressure, due to abundant supply of cheap plastics as global production continues to rise.
More than half of plastics produced worldwide — 57 percent — come from Asia, with 35 percent coming from China.
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