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Oceanic plastic pollution set to triple by 2040

Plastic and other debris are seen on the shores of Cap Haitian beach, in Cap Haitian, Haiti October 9, 2018. Photo:Reuters

 

Oceanic plastic pollution set to triple by 2040

 

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | JULY 24th 2020

 

Within the next 20 years, the rate of plastic pollution is expected to be tripled by what it is now, while efforts to curb the rate of plastic pollution are gradually falling through, recently published study reveals.

Since the beginning of the pandemic caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been a significant rise in the dumping of single-use plastics, bringing plastic pollution to rise overall, according to the International Solid Waste Association, an NGO. This primarily consists of sanitizer bottles, plastic gloves, and facemasks, all of which end up in landfills, or the oceans. Though there is greater attention put towards the plastic pollution crisis, the situation fails to see much in the way of improvement.

“All the initiatives to date make very little difference. There is no silver bullet, there is no solution that can simply be applied – lots of policies are wanted. You need innovation and systems change,” said Simon Reddy, international environment director at the Pew Charitable Trusts, which had led the research. “That there is likely to be three times more plastic waste by 2040 is a shocking revelation.”

The exact amount of plastic in the oceans is said to be difficult to narrow down. However, an estimate made back in 2015 placed the total number to be somewhere around 150 million metric tons. By 2040, this number could become 600 million metric tons, if things go on as they have up until now.

The research was made and produced by the Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ, Ltd., a London-based environmental think tank. On top of the estimate, the researchers had offered a potential solution that could end up cutting the estimated volumes of plastic by an entire 80%. This cut would, however, require a wholesale restructuring of the current global plastics-producing industry, in a way that would end up shifting it into a circular economy that places its focus on reusing and recycling plastics.

“Plastic pollution is something that affects everyone. It isn’t a ‘your problem and not my problem’. It’s not one country’s problem. It’s everyone’s problem,” said the senior manager at Pew and co-author of the study, Winnie Lau. “It’s going to get worse if we don’t do anything.”

Taking the measures suggested in the study would be severely costly, and therefore may be unlikely to occur. An investment of about $150 billion would be a global requirement, within the next 5 years. It may be an option that sees consideration, on the other hand, given that this solution would yield around $70 billion in savings, in comparison to the current $670 billion cost to the world’s governments when dealing with inefficient waste management, between now and 2040.

The solution would also serve to create around 700,000 jobs, whilst cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Reddy had called on the world’s governments to consider this, rather than the planned expansion of plastic production.

“Without this, the supply of large quantities of cheap virgin plastic to the market may undermine reduction and substitution efforts and threaten the economic viability of recycling, while making it even harder to close the collection gap [between waste produced and waste collected for disposal],” Reddy said.

The change would need to be worldwide, to include both developed, and developing countries. In many developing countries, waste management is often ignored. As such it is typically left to an informal economy of people picking waste in exchange for money, often getting paid by the weight of however much they pick up. Due to this, thin film materials, or lighter plastics don’t always end up removed, despite their danger, and the waste pickers themselves are exposed to harmful pollutants.

“Their contribution to preventing ocean plastic pollution has largely gone unrecognised and underpaid”, said Reddy about the informal workers and waste pickers, despite them being responsible for around 60% of global plastic recycling.

A professor of ocean policy at the University of Portsmouth who was not involved in the research, Stephen Fletcher, said that in order for any viable solutions to be put in motion, businesses would first need to be brought on board.

“The key message from this paper is that even with huge changes to how plastics are produced, used, reused and disposed of, plastic pollution on land and in the ocean is here to stay,” said Fletcher. “The extent to which such a shift [in the global plastic economy] is realistic is debatable, yet the paper demonstrates that the need for such a shift is urgent.”

 

By Patryk Krych | © The World Daily 2020

 

 

Categories:
Environment
Tags:
Plastic PollutionOceansCOVID-19PollutionWildlife