aRTICLE | Plastic Woes: Need For A Global Initiative
A global plastic treaty on cards? Working with youths on environmental issues has made me interact with many enterprising and enthusiastic ones. They speak with a sense of victory when they collect loads of wastes littered near water bodies, inside forests and many other places by people who don’t care about managing their own wastes. The sad part of this story is: these materials, most of which is plastic wastes, are collected in huge plastic bags to be disposed of in municipal landfills which are not properly managed. The happiness gathered in collecting pollutants at the source turns into a sad story when these wastes end up polluting the destination: our soil, air and waterbodies at a different place
Ranjan K Panda | Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network
hile these youths and others who are engaged in clean-up actions are champions beyond doubt, the fact that there are no global regulations to end plastic pollution by the manufacturers is going to make it difficult for ending this menace. Plastic needs to be controlled from the source to the point of use: locally, nationally and globally.
Out of bounds
Plastic pollution is one of the key concerns for the entire globe at the moment. Something that started as a symbol of progress a few decades ago is out in the open as a killer that the humans find very difficult to control. It’s a menace from top to toe, from the production stage to the use through disposal – the entire lifecycle. Since the early 1950s, it is estimated by researchers, that more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastics have been produced. About 60 per cent of that plastic has ended up in either a landfill or the natural environment. In fact, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) informs that the rate of plastic production has grown
38 February 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in
faster than any other material since the 1950s. It’s worrying as more than 99 per cent of plastics are produced from chemicals derived from dreaded climate culprits: oil, natural gas and coal. Plastic production is expected to triple by 2050. This is concerning due to the fact that 75 per cent of all plastic ever produced has become waste. In fact, the world adds up plastic waste at an annual rate of 303 million tonnes. The growth of single-use plastic use has been of grave concern among all. Besides the solid plastic looking products we also have a huge load of micro plastic that gets added into the volume that’s produced, used and discharged into environment and human bodies. Only 9 per cent of all the plastic waste has so far been recycled and about 12 per cent incinerated. While both the recycled and incinerated plastic wastes also create some pollution loads, the fact that 79 per cent of the waste has been accumulated in landfills, dumps or the natural environment is a matter of big concern. Most of these go on to pollute our water bodies including the oceans.
It’s raining plastic everywhere
From the pond in your neighbourhood to the river in your city to the oceans and mountains, plastic pollution has reached everywhere on this earth. Plastic is in the rain, in our food, in our drinking water and even in human placenta! Every year the oceans receive at least 14 million tonnes of plastic, which may go up to 32 million tonnes by 2040. With this speed the oceans may actually have more plastic than fish by 2050. Plastic debris is currently the most abundant type of litter in the ocean, making up 80 per cent of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. While many of our conservationists and other activists are engaged in cleaning up shorelines and tourist places, the biodiversity inside the oceans are chocking with plastic wastes that most often originate inlands. Due to our waste management failure at each level, starting from our homes to industries to urban governance levels,
