Pakistan, Aug. 10 -- Talks on forging a groundbreaking treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution were floundering Saturday, with progress slow and countries wildly at odds on what the proposed agreement should cover.

The negotiations, which opened on Tuesday, have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment.

But in a blunt mid-way assessment, the talks chair warned the 184 countries gathered at the United Nations in Geneva that progress so far was well off track.

Some countries called for areas where countries are far from agreement to ditched completely for the sake of expediency.

Others slammed the brinkmanship and said insistence on consensus co...