‘79% Of Total Plastic Waste Stored In Landfills Or Aquatic Bodies’

Last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a proclamation of trying to save cows from plastic, bringing into focus the hazard caused by this non-biodegradable product for the animal, as well as the surroundings. Even though civic authorities can save cows from plastic, the challenge the earth faces from the overproduction and consumption of plastic is tremendous. The environmental danger caused by this fossil-fuel based product across the globe is alarming, as it poses a threat to aquatic and human lives.

The world so far has produced 8,300 million metric tons of plastic according to a study called “Production, Use and Fate of All Plastics Ever Made” by international journal, Science Advances, of the US-based non-profit organization, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which quantifies the production of plastic, stating that approximately 6,300 million metric tonnes of plastic waste has been produced, out of which only 9 per cent has been recycled. Out of this total plastic waste, 79 per cent or 4,977 million metric tonnes is accumulated in landfills or aquatic bodies, or in the natural environment, where it does not decompose, as per the study.

As per this trend, according to the study, by 2050, roughly 12,000 million metric tonnes of plastic waste will be in landfills or the natural environment, if we extrapolate the rate of plastic production and consumption, while 9,000 million metric tonnes would have been recycled, and another 12,000 million metric tonnes incinerated. As per the study, Europe has the highest rates of recycling, but with only 30 per cent, followed by China at 25 per cent, while USA has remained at a steady 9 per cent since 2012.

“The growth of plastics production in the past 65 years has substantially outpaced any other manufactured material. The same properties that make plastics so versatile in innumerable applications—durability and resistance to degradation—make these materials difficult or impossible for nature to assimilate. Thus, without a well-designed and tailor-made management strategy for end-of-life plastics, humans are conducting a singular uncontrolled experiment on a global scale, in which billions of metric tons of material will accumulate across all major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the planet”, adds the study, stating that the “relative advantages and disadvantages of dematerialization, substitution, reuse, material recycling, waste-to-energy, and conversion technologies must be carefully considered to design the best solutions to the environmental challenges posed by the enormous and sustained global growth in plastics production and use.”

Plastic has been mainly used in the form of carry bags, packaging films, wrapping materials, fluid containers, clothing, toys, household applications, industrial products, engineering applications and building materials, and because it is non-biodegradable, it stays on the landscape for years, polluting the environment as the life-cycle of the plastic remains incomplete, after which it is dumped in landfills.

The study is the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever made by developing and combining global data on production, use, and end-of-life fate of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives into a comprehensive material flow model.

As all types of plastic cannot be recycled, it is accumulated “into open drains, low-lying areas, river banks, coastal areas and sea-beaches, affecting soil, ground water and the surroundings”. The study also notes that “although there are emerging technologies, such as pyrolysis, which extracts fuel from plastic waste, to date, virtually all thermal destruction has been by incineration, with or without energy recovery.

The environmental and health impacts of waste incinerators strongly depend on emission control technology, as well as incinerator design and operation. Finally, plastics can be discarded and either contained in a managed system, such as sanitary landfills, or left uncontained in open dumps or in the natural environment”. Whatever the case may be, it is apparent that in order to move towards a sustainable future, the use of plastics has to decrease significantly, while the rates of recycling must increase.