The meeting was the last stage in a two-year process, after more than 170 nations in March 2022 backed a historic UN resolution to end plastic pollution.

Delegates from more than 170 countries huddled for a week of marathon negotiations but came up short on delivering a treaty.

Plastic pollution is choking the planet. From the bottom of the Mariana trench to the top of Mount Everest, there is little escaping the problem. Regardless, treaty negotiations to end plastic pollution collapsed on Sunday after the event in Busan, South Korea closed without the nations firmly agreeing to put limits on plastic production.