The amount of plastic trash that flows into the oceans every year is expected to nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million metric tons, new research has found. The study, which was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and Systemiq Ltd., a London-based environmental think tank, essentially calls for a wholesale remaking of the global plastics industry by shifting it to a circular economy that reuses and recycles. If such a transformation occurs, National Geographic reports that Pew’s experts believe the annual flow of plastic waste into the oceans could be reduced by 80 percent over the next two decades, all by using existing methods and technology.
Steps the researchers called for included:
- reducing growth in plastic production and consumption
- substituting plastic with paper and compostable materials
- designing products and packaging for recycling
- expanding waste collection rates in middle/low-income countries and supporting the “informal collection” sector
- building facilities to dispose of the 23 percent of plastic that cannot be recycled economically, as a transitional measure
reduce plastic waste exports
According to CNN, one key finding the study identified is that waste mismanagement wasn’t necessarily a problem of having the recycling capacity, landfill space or incinerators, but the bottle neck came from the collection gap. “There are billions of people without collection services right now. When certain groups say we can recycle our way out of it, you can’t recycle something you haven’t collected. You can’t dispose of something you haven’t collected,” said Lau. The team’s findings come as waste from COVID-19, such as discarded PPE, masks, gloves, hand sanitizer bottles and take-out boxes, has ended up in landfills or our oceans.
Source: Waste Today Magazine
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