Plastic Pollution

https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution

by nuriaion • 7 years ago

107 34 7 years ago

lelima• 7 years ago

I though we didn't Incinerated plastic because of health reasons(toxic chemicals releases) and we burn more plastic than recycled.

Recycling: 19.5% Burning: 25.5% Discard: 50%

Revealing metric

thescriptkiddie• 7 years ago

Modern incinerators release little more than carbon dioxide, because they burn at temperatures so high that the fuel undergoes nearly complete pyrolysis. Some even use plasma torches to gasify the fuel without "burning" it, then use the gas to run generators.

jeremyw• 7 years ago

Moderators: this article was updated with research from 2019, suggest dropping the date from the title. It's current.

dang• 7 years ago

Ok, done. Thanks!

treerock• 7 years ago

High-income countries...have very effective waste management infrastructure and systems; this means discarded plastic waste is stored in secure, closed landfills.

How does this match up to the estimates that "Roughly two-thirds of plastic waste in the UK is sent overseas to be recycled."[1]? Especially if some of that 'recycled' waste ends up in uncontrolled landfills.

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49827945

nerdponx• 7 years ago

I assume by "discarded" they exclude recycling.

Noxmiles• 7 years ago

As a german I am a bit shocked to see, that Germany is often in the top 5 of most produced plastic at all and per capita. Still - I don't see much of it in the streets or elsewhere.

Thanks for the link. Great article.

cptskippy3• 7 years ago

That could also be a cultural thing. Some cultures, like German and Japanese, have stricter etiquette and manners around things like cleanliness and order. In my experience Germans are also not shy in telling you when you've violated etiquette either, which is very different from in the US where people avoid confrontation.

novok• 7 years ago

The reason why in the US is because you have a very real chance of getting shanked or violently attacked if you do 'notify a violator' in public.

clows• 7 years ago

Maybe because quite a lot of plastic gets sent to asia? https://www.dw.com/en/german-plastic-floods-southeast-asia/a...

titzer• 7 years ago

Germany is relatively clean, and Switzerland and Japan. That's generally due to a lower overall prevalence of littering and actually having effective government-run pickups. But stray from places that aren't picked up regularly and you'll see it. I've seen it everywhere I have been, including all over southern Germany. It's like a rule of the universe. Anywhere people go, they bring food with them, and the wrappers and bottles end up on the ground, in the bushes, in the streams. Single-use plastic for goodies--food, drink, cigarettes, etc--is the #1 kind of litter. Germany is no better than anywhere for cigarette butts, by the way. And cigarette butts are actually made out of plastic, for the most part.

Source: been picking up garbage all over the world for years.

slumdev2• 7 years ago

Disneyworld also has very clean streets. I wouldn't hold it up as a model of sustainability, though.

I don't mean to dig at our German friends, only to make the point that pollution is much more than what we can see, as civilians, just walking and driving around.

deepvibrations• 7 years ago

I see a lot of discussion about recycling and burying/burning, but I think more effort should be made to reduce usage of plastics and re-use where necessary.

I have gone plastic-free this January and it has been far more challenging than I thought. Despite having some very ethical shops on my doorstep in Bristol (UK), it takes a lot more time to do my shopping now and there are still many foods which I just cannot find without plastic packaging, most of which really do not need it.

It has been a great eye opener to just how bad the supermarkets are and I think change needs to come through regulation, as a simple small tax for them may be enough to tip the scales and move things in a better direction.

cptskippy3• 7 years ago

I think more effort should be made to reduce usage of plastics and re-use where necessary.

More specifically we need to change the narrative away from recycling and disposal being the consumer's responsibility. The package choices are not the consumers and if manufacturers are unwilling to shift towards reusable or responsible packaging then we need legislation and regulation to force the issue.

I have gone plastic-free this January and it has been far more challenging than I thought.

I would not think that's even possible without making significant lifestyle changes. There are just basic things (e.g. Toilet paper) that I'm not even aware you can purchase without plastic packaging. Good luck with your journey.

fooblitzky• 7 years ago

I buy toilet paper from Who Gives A Crap: https://us.whogivesacrap.org/

The toilet paper is made from bamboo, and comes wrapped in paper in a cardboard box. They operate in USA, Australia, and the UK.

brenden2• 7 years ago

I agree, recycling just gives people a free pass to waste and pollute. There should be more emphasis on reduction and reuse for non-biodegradable materials.

Faction• 7 years ago

A question regarding the food chain:

What if I'm a vegetarian, do the microplastics get absorbed by plants and by me when I eat the plant?

throwawayhhakdl• 7 years ago

Probably not that much. Though you’re probably not getting that much from eating meat as most of it should stay in the digestive tract which people usually don’t eat.

Stuff like plastic packaging, sea salt, or water is likely a more prevalent source.

greygatch• 7 years ago

IIRC they're not absorbed directly, but it may influence the plant's development, etc.

endothrowho333• 7 years ago

Yes.

Depending on the size of the microplastic particles, they will be absorbed through the roots. Most common sources are usually contaminated water and fertilizers. Other times, regular pollution (f.e air and runoff)

slumdev2• 7 years ago

Yes, and it's not just plastic either.

I shy away from buying produce from farms next to interstates.

In a grocery store, though, it's impossible to tell where something was sourced.

wiggler00m• 7 years ago

Co-op food stores often encourage customers to bring their own re-usable containers and bags for food, or failing that, to bring used paper/plastic bags. This should be done at greater scale imo.

FailMore• 7 years ago

I have no understanding of the relevant science, but would it be possible to make plastic actively absorb carbon (and perhaps change colour). So if you bought a bottle of coke, it would slowly turn from transparent to green as it absorbed carbon. Then as we use copious amounts of plastic, which we will and do, we would bring down carbon by a little bit.

Thoughts?

saiya-jin• 7 years ago

Coke (or sodas) might not be the best example, plenty of CO2 inside, if you take C out of it, ignitable O2 remains. Might end up pretty nasty if bottle is left on the scorching sun (not a chemist, just armchair guessing).

Generally making something chemically active with god-knows-what long term effects and being in touch of food is a no-no for me. Some other materials for other usages might be better ideas. Or lets just stick to good old regulation and extra taxes.

nosianu• 7 years ago

Unless you do what the earth did for millions of years and bury the carbon deep underground anything you do will merely create a pipeline effect: When it starts there is a small reduction, but overall there is none as soon as the pipeline is full.

What do you mean by "absorb carbon" anyway - plastic is carbon for the most part, the "H(ydrogen)" in the molecules is tiny in terms of weight (H compared to C atom), and any other atoms mixed in for this or that effect are minor components of what is mostly various kinds of carbo-hydrogen molecules.

swiley• 7 years ago

What do they mean by plastic? Petrochemical resins? Does cellophane count? Does paper count?

jefftk2• 7 years ago

Looking at https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution#how-does-plasti... I see a lot of reasons to believe plastic can be harmful, but nothing about the scale of the harm. Is plastic pollution about as bad greenhouse gas pollution? 10x as bad? 0.1x as bad? Decent estimates here would be really important for figuring out what we should focus on.

(My completely uninformed guess is that it's ~0.01x as bad, but if anyone has something more informed that would be very helpful!)

WhompingWindows• 7 years ago

Refine your thinking..."bad" is not a research outcome. Define your question more specifically and it will be much easier to quantify the difference. What are you interested in -- climate change, effect on ocean life, effect on human health, etc.?

jefftk2• 7 years ago

I mean something equivalent to https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange/social-c...

Plastic Pollution

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