According to UNESCO, 8-10 million tonnes of plastic are released into the sea every year. On World Ocean Day, Al Jazeera visualises what that looks like.
Every year, about 400 million tonnes of plastic products are produced around the world. About half are used to make single-use items such as shopping bags, cups and packaging material.
Of these plastics, an estimated 8 million to 10 million tonnes end up in the ocean each year. If flattened to the thickness of a plastic bag, that is enough to cover an area of 11,000sq km (4,250sq miles). That is about the size of small countries like Qatar, Jamaica or the Bahamas.
At this rate, over the course of 50 years, plastic waste could grow to an area bigger than 550,000sq km (212,000sq miles) – about the size of France, Thailand or Ukraine.
To raise awareness about the importance of the ocean and promote its sustainable use and protection, the United Nations designated every June 8 as World Ocean Day.
Plastics are the most common form of ocean litter, comprising 80 percent of all marine pollution. Most plastics that end up in the ocean come from improper waste disposal systems that dump rubbish in rivers and streams.
Plastics in the form of fishing nets and other marine equipment are also dumped into the ocean by ships and fishing boats.
Besides plastic bags and containers, tiny particles known as microplastics also make their way into the ocean. Microplastics, which are less than 5mm (one-fifth of an inch) in length, are a major environmental concern because they can be ingested by marine life and cause harm to both animals and humans.
An estimated 50 trillion to 75 trillion pieces of microplastics are in the ocean today.
While research on the health effects of human consumption of microplastics is limited, some studies have indicated that microplastics can accumulate in organs such as the liver, kidneys and intestines. There are concerns that microplastic particles could potentially lead to inflammation, oxidative stress and cellular damage.
“These little particles in the ocean were breaking into little pieces and being consumed by the wildlife living there at an almost unimaginable scale. The main problem is that pieces of plastic contain toxic chemicals and these chemicals are already known to interfere with human hormones and animal hormones. They may cause the accumulation of toxins in the body that may lead to ill effects over time,” science writer and author Erica Cirino told Al Jazeera’s The Stream programme.
According to a 2021 study published by Science Advances research, 80 percent of all plastics found in the ocean comes from Asia.
The Philippines is believed to be the source of more than a third (36.4 percent) of all plastic waste in the ocean followed by India (12.9 percent), Malaysia (7.5 percent), China (7.2 percent) and Indonesia (5.8 percent).
These amounts do not include waste that is exported overseas that may be at higher risk of entering the ocean.
Plastics are synthetic materials made from polymers, which are long chains of molecules. These polymers are typically derived from petroleum or natural gas.
The main problem with plastics is that they do not easily biodegrade, which means they can persist in the environment for hundreds of years, causing serious pollution problems.
Plastics that find their way into the ocean end up floating on the surface for a long time. Eventually, they sink to the bottom and get buried in the seafloor.
Plastics on the surface of the ocean represent 1 percent of the total plastics in the ocean. The other 99 percent are microplastic fragments far below the surface.
The researchers said China generated about 18kg (40lbs) of plastic waste per person during the year but that was still only a third of the average 59kg each Australian threw away. The United States was second on the list at 53kg per person and South Korea third at 44kg.
“China is the world’s most populous country. So it’s no surprise that they generate the world’s largest amount of single-use, plastic waste,” said Dominic Charles, lead author of the study and Minderoo’s director of finance and transparency.
In its inaugural Plastic Waste Makers Index published on Tuesday, the Perth-based Minderoo Foundation said just 20 companies contributed half of the world’s single-use plastic items thrown away yearly. And a quarter of those were firms headquartered in mainland China.
China is the biggest generator of plastic waste, with one-fifth of the world’s single-use plastic coming from the country in 2019, according to an Australian study.
“In terms of per person, China is quite far down the list, ranked at 45 ... China sits at where you expect it for upper middle-income countries,” Charles said.
State-owned oil and gas firm Sinopec was the world’s third largest single-use plastic waste producer, pumping out about 5.3 million tonnes of the product in 2019, contributing about 2 per cent of its revenue, according to the foundation.
Charles said China must take the lead in addressing the problem.
“We can’t tackle single-use plastic waste independent of China. There is a real opportunity here for China to become a leader in circular plastics in the same way it is becoming a leader in solar renewable energy,” he said.
“There is a real win-win for China to reduce reliance on fossil fuel based plastics. It would reduce reliance on imports of fossil fuels, contributing to China’s ‘zero’ commitments,” he said referring to China’s
2060 carbon neutrality target
“At the same time, it would incentivise more collection and recycling of plastic waste and reducing pollution.”
Charles said that using recycled plastic for production, would put a value on plastic waste and create economic incentive to collect plastics.
04:13
Pandemic food delivery boom creating vast amounts of plastic waste in China
Pandemic food delivery boom creating vast amounts of plastic waste in China
From plastic bottles to food packaging, single-use plastics are the most common type of plastic produced. More than 130 million tonnes of plastic was thrown away in 2019.
Single-use plastics are made almost entirely from fossil fuels, and are eventually burned, buried in landfills or discarded into the environment, according to the study.
Roughly 300 companies own the world’s single-use plastic production facilities, and a third of these firms are from China.
If single-use plastic continued to be made at the present rate, it could account for at least 5 per cent of global greenhouse emissions by 2050, the researchers said.
Charles said that while consumers and brands had made strides in reducing plastic consumption, manufacturers of the raw materials for plastics had yet to take responsibility.
The index was compiled based on estimates from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, and also involved a number of industry and academic institutions including the London School of Economics and Stockholm Environment Institute.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: China urged to lead the world in circular use of plastics