Nearly every country in the world has agreed upon a legally binding framework to reduce the pollution from plastic waste except for the United States, UN environmental officials say.
An agreement on tracking thousands of types of plastic waste emerged Friday at the end of a two-week meeting of UN-backed conventions on plastic waste and toxic, hazardous chemicals.
Discarded plastic clutters pristine land, floats in huge masses in oceans and rivers and entangles wildlife, sometimes with deadly results.
Rolph Payet of the United Nations Environment Program said the "historic" agreement linked to the 186-country, UN-supported Basel Convention means that countries will have to monitor and track the movements of plastic waste outside their borders.
The deal affects products used in a broad array of industries, such as health care, technology, aerospace, fashion, food and beverages.
"It's sending a very strong political signal to the rest of the world to the private sector, to the consumer market that we need to do something," Payet said.
"Countries have decided to do something which will translate into real action on the ground."
"They (the countries) have managed to use an existing international instrument to put in place those measures."