GENEVA - No consensus was reached during talks in Geneva on the world's first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution, according to delegates on Friday.

"South Africa is disappointed that it was not possible for this session to agree a legally binding treaty and positions remain far apart," its delegate told a closing meeting of the negotiations early on Friday.

More than 1,000 delegates have gathered in Geneva for the sixth round of talks, after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) in South Korea late last year ended without a deal.

The INC is a group established by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in 2022 with the mandate to develop a legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution.

Negotiations had gone into overtime on Thursday as countries scrambled to bridge deep divisions over the extent of future curbs.

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Diplomats and climate advocates had warned earlier this month that efforts by the EU and small island states to cap virgin plastic production - fuelled by petroleum, coal and gas - are threatened by opposition from petrochemical-producing countries and the U.S. under President Donald Trump.

The most divisive issues include capping production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty.