We need to talk about the global plastics treaty

If there’s one problem that unites all nations, people and communities, it is plastic. Who hasn’t seen the brightly-coloured stuff floating about in lakes and rivers, or read shocking data about how much of it we unknowingly consume (about one credit card’s worth in a week)? If a survey were to be done in Indian cities asking people to name the top environmental issue of the day, I bet that plastics would be the majority choice, far ahead of equally or more pressing ones like climate change.

Yet, somehow, few people are aware that an international treaty to decisively …