Delegates from 175 countries met at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee - INC-5 - to develop a historic and international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. Debates centered on reducing plastic production and managing waste, but did resistance from fossil fuel-producing nations stall progress? We find out what happened at this critical meeting from Wong Pui Yi, a Research Consultant at Basel Action Network, and Mageswari Sangaralingam, an Honorary Secretary from Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Chief Executive at the Consumers’ Association of Penang, who were both at the talks in Busan.

Image credit: Seunghyeok Choi / Break Free From Plastic, Uproot Plastic Coalition