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U.N. adopts historic resolution aimed at ending plastic pollution

The measure at the United Nations lays out plan for developing a legally binding treaty by the end of 2024

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Updated March 2, 2022 at 8:55 a.m. EST|Published March 2, 2022 at 8:32 a.m. EST
A delegate looks at a 30-foot installation dubbed “Turn Off the Plastic Tap” by Canadian activist and artist Benjamin Von Wong, made with plastic waste collected from Kibera slum in Nairobi and exhibited at the U.N. Environment Assembly in the Kenyan capital on Feb. 28, 2022. (Monicah Mwangi/Reuters)
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For the first time, the international community has agreed on a framework to curb the world’s growing plastic problem. A resolution adopted Wednesday by the United Nations lays out an ambitious plan for developing a legally binding treaty to “end plastic pollution.”

“With plastic pollution getting worse every day, there is no time to waste,” said Rwandan Environment Minister Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya. “This decision is a historic milestone in the global effort to prevent our planet from drowning in plastics.”