G7 members commit to ending new plastic pollution by 2040

Meanwhile, G7 environment and climate ministers pledged to end new plastic pollution in their countries by 2040, they said in a statement released Sunday after two-day talks in Sapporo of northern Japan.

Germany, France, Canada, Britain and the EU are already part of a multi-national coalition that made the same pledge last year.But this is the first time the remaining Group of Seven members -- Japan, the United States and Italy -- have made the 2040 commitment.

The phase-out will be achieved by "promoting sustainable consumption and production of plastics, increasing their circularity in the economy, and environmentally sound management of waste", the statement said.

Plastic waste has doubled globally in 20 years and only nine percent is successfully recycled, according to the OECD group of developed countries.The United Nations says the volume of plastic entering the oceans will nearly triple by 2040.