White House: U.S. will redouble plastics-pollution effort after deal failure at Busan

The White House said Tuesday it is disappointing that negotiators could not strike a legally binding deal to address plastic pollution during a high-profile summit in Busan, South Korea.

National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said the U.S. looks forward to the next round of talks in 2025.

“While the global movement to reign in the urgent threats of plastic waste in the environment has gained tremendous momentum, a small group of countries and producers stood in the way of progress to protect their profits and perpetuate an inadequate status quo,” Mr. Savett said.

Countries met in Busan from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 for Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) talks to strike a deal on ending plastic pollution. But there were divisions from the start, with some countries wanting to impose caps on the production of plastics while others only wanted to rein in waste.

Some petrochemical-producing countries, notably Saudi Arabia, objected to provisions that would curtail production.

Plastic waste more than doubled from 156 million tons in 2000 to 353 million tons in 2019, and only 9% is ultimately recycled, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a 2022 report.

About 8 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans every year, akin to dumping a full garbage truck of plastic waste into the waters every minute, according to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report that said plastic waste is found in every form of marine habitat.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration pushed an ambitious plan to phase out single-use plastics from food service operations, events and packaging by 2027 and all federal operations by 2035.

The federal government is considered the largest consumer of goods in the world, so the administration is setting down an aggressive marker that could be copied by others.

“The United States spearheaded an ambitious approach in Busan, reflected in our own domestic efforts, and we continue to back a global framework that supports private investment, good jobs, and our environment,” Mr. Savett said.

Mr. Savett said the U.S. is “resolved to make more progress in the next stages of this negotiation,” although President-elect Donald Trump might not share the Biden team’s goals.