The International negotiations to approve a Global Plastics Treaty They have failed again, for the second time. The nearly 200 countries meeting in Geneva since August 5 have been unable to reach an agreement, as It happened at last year's summit in Busan, South Korea.The deadline for reaching an agreement technically ended at midnight on Thursday. Negotiations dragged on until early Friday morning, following widespread revolt against the latest draft agreement, released Wednesday, which directly eliminated all the key points, especially the imposition of a reduction in plastics production, yielding to pressure from the group of oil-producing countries, led by the group supporting the United States. These latter countries are truly responsible for the failure.

Up to 8 billion tons of plastic waste pollute the planet, according to an estimate from a new scientific study published Monday in The LancetThis stratospheric figure is equivalent to 200 million large trucks (about 40 tons each), which are necessary to collect all the plastic waste accumulating in every corner of the planet, from the mountains to the bottom of the ocean. However, it would be an impossible feat because much of this waste They are in the form of microplastics and nanoplastics, very small particles that pollute the environment and that have reached our body through the food chain. The study of The Lancet, in fact, denounces that "plastics cause illness and death from childhood to old age." The study is published coinciding with the start of the summit that will bring together all UN governments in Geneva starting tomorrow to try to finally approve the Global Plastics Treaty. This binding agreement has been blocked in previous summits by plastic-producing countries (derived from petroleum), which refuse to include measures that affect production and demand that the treaty be limited to talking about waste management.

On average, a plastic bag is used for only 12 minutes, but it can take more than 300 years to fully decompose. According to the OECD's Global Plastics Outlook, in just two decades, annual plastic waste production worldwide has doubled, from 180 million tonnes to over 350 million. Plastic waste is projected to nearly triple worldwide by 2060: half of all this waste will still be landfilled, and less than a fifth will be recycled.

Never buying bottled water in plastic, always opting for secondhand clothes, wooden toys (or reused ones if they're plastic), or putting babies on the potty from six weeks old (yes, six weeks) are some of the many ways to start freeing yourself, little by little, from the "dependence" on plastic. In fact, it's probably another way of life.

In 2018, China had had enough. It accounted for half of the world's plastic exports and, tired of being the "planet's dumping ground," banned them from entering. The EU, which exported three million tons to China, was forced to get its act together, and organizations that had been fighting for a waste-free society for years saw how the Chinese ban accelerated the implementation of circular economy policies. Finally, Europe was learning that the way to be resilient is through self-sufficiency.