Canada’s environment minister says a global treaty to end plastic waste will not be ambitious enough if it doesn’t include some limits on plastic production.
As the fourth round of international negotiations kicked off in Ottawa this week, Steven Guilbeault said a watered-down agreement that doesn’t limit production wouldn’t be acceptable.
Greenpeace and other environmental groups say scientific evidence shows that reducing the amount of plastic produced is the only way to keep it out of the environment.
Companies that make plastic argue there is no need for caps, because alternatives to plastics are often more expensive and energy-intensive.