New step in plastics treaty talks

A public art installation outside the United Nations in Geneva highlights a second week of negotiations to curb plastic pollution while lawmakers push for a binding global treaty.

Art as a catalyst in global plastics treaty talks

GENEVA — The second week of negotiations toward a global plastics pollution treaty opened with a public art display outside the United Nations office. Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong built a nearly six-meter sculpture called Thinker’s Burden, inspired by Rodin, showing a figure perched on Mother Earth and cradling a baby while a DNA strand winds through plastic bottles. With volunteers, Von Wong plans to add more plastic waste through the talks to reflect the mounting cost of inaction. He climbed a ladder to weave bottles through the sculpture’s DNA and placed a plastic toy car among the trash, signaling the scale of the challenge.

Around 3,700 participants from 184 countries and more than 600 organizations are in Geneva to craft the first binding treaty on plastics pollution. The Minderoo Foundation is the largest donor for the project, while local nonprofits collected the waste. Delegates and visitors paused to view the installation, and some called it a powerful reminder of what is at stake. European Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall urged faster progress, while UN Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen said a breakthrough remains possible and that the window to strike a treaty is still open.

Art can magnify a complex policy fight by making the consequences tangible. The sculpture places the abstract idea of a treaty into a personal frame—pollution as a living burden on health and future generations. Yet there is a caveat: public attention is a tool that can fade as negotiations stall. Real progress now depends on concrete commitments, including budgets and political support from diverse states. The interplay of philanthropy, civil society, and state interests will shape the treaty’s terms and the speed at which a legally binding deal emerges.

Highlights

History will judge whether this week’s momentum translates into a durable, enforceable treaty.