Plastic pollution: what to know from the Ottawa conference

The United Nations completed a round of negotiations on a treaty to end plastic pollution early Tuesday and made more progress than in the previous three meetings.

Arriving in Ottawa, many feared that efforts to develop the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution , including in the oceans, would bog down. The last meeting had been marred by disagreements and much remained to be done.

But instead there was a “monumental shift in tone and energy ,” said Julie Dabrusin, Canada’s parliamentary secretary.

This was the fourth session of the intergovernmental negotiating committee on plastic pollution. For the first time, countries have begun negotiating the text of what is…