Delegates from more than 170 countries attempting to negotiate a treaty to curb global plastic pollution ended a weeklong meeting in Busan early Monday without an agreement, pushing talks to another session next year.

The UN environment chief insisted Monday that talks on a landmark plastic pollution treaty were not a failure, saying important progress was made despite negotiations collapsing without agreement.

Divisions between countries have stalled negotiations on the world's first treaty to tackle plastic pollution, after a terse week of talks in South Korea's Busan.