A deal to end the plastics problem?

[0:00]145 countries are meeting to try to finally solve the plastic pollution problem. Could this be the final straw? From the top of Everest to the deepest ocean trench, plastic is everywhere. And health experts pretty much all agree, it's a danger to both our and the planet's health, causing disease in people of all ages, and costing 1.1 trillion a year in health-related damage. What's driving this is the huge acceleration in plastic production, which has increased by over 200 times in the last 75 years. While plastic has many important uses, the most rapid increase has been in single-use plastics, bottles, takeaway boxes, plastic bags. These are the sixth and probably final round of negotiations to agree a legally binding global treaty to tackle the problem. So far, they've failed because of a fundamental disagreement between those who want to put a strict limit on the amount of plastic we produce in the first place, and those who want to keep making it and focus on recycling instead. Whilst the diplomats talk it out in Geneva, many might wonder, what can I do about this? Experts say, try to avoid using single-use plastics by using reusable cups, food containers and tote bags. And, for those that are able, walking and cycling can help reduce the amount of microplastics in the environment produced by car tires.