Oil-producing countries have stalled efforts to draft the first legally binding international agreement on cutting plastic pollution, proposing to move the focus to waste management rather than scaling down production, according to official observers at week-long UN talks in Nairobi.

The global gathering in the Kenyan capital was aimed at making progress on a deal for plastic equivalent to the 2015 Paris climate agreement. But the talks ended on Sunday evening without a plan to begin formal work on a draft treaty ahead of the next meeting, due to be held in Canada in April.

Blocking tactics by countries that argued against starting to frame a draft were “disastrous” and would prevent meaningful work being carried out before talks resumed, said Graham Forbes, head of Greenpeace’s delegation in Nairobi.