Failure of talks for plastic treaty turn focus back to reduce, reuse, recycle. How's that going?

Talks aimed at a global treaty to cut plastic pollution fizzled in Geneva this month, with no agreement to meaningfully reduce the harms to human health and the environment that come with the millions of tons of plastic produced today.

Though as many as 100 countries sought caps on production, powerful oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia and the United States stood against them. They argued the caps were unnecessary and a threat to their economies and industries.

That means progress continues to depend on efforts to improve recycling, reuse and product design.

How big is the issue?

The world makes more than 400 million tons of new plastic each year, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that could increase by about 70% by 2040 without meaningful c