The failure of recent global talks in Busan, South Korea, to produce a landmark treaty to combat plastic pollution, has underscored the complexities and challenges of addressing one of the planet’s most pressing environmental and climate issues.

Plastic pollution is choking the planet. From the bottom of the Mariana trench to the top of Mount Everest, there is little escaping the problem. Regardless, treaty negotiations to end plastic pollution collapsed on Sunday after the event in Busan,