Plastic Scourge Threatens Business As Usual

While plastic is great for holding beverages, what would you do with 77 lbs. of it?

You can also sit on plastic. I read that you can manufacture 77 colorful plastic benches from 38,800 pounds of plastic or about 400 lbs. for each one.

Then there’s the story about the one that didn’t get away. Curators at a natural history museum in Davao City, the Philippines, got a call from the local marine agency: An emaciated-looking whale in the Davao Gulf was vomiting blood, listing badly as it swam, and was very likely going to die shortly. The caller urged the agency to come pick up its body.

When they brought the whale back to the lab to open it up for a necropsy, the scientists found something shocking: more than 88 lbs. of plastic waste jammed into its belly. They found plastic bursting out of its stomach. They pulled out the first bag, then the second. They filled 16 rice sacks on top of the plastic bags, and snack bags, and big tangles of nylon ropes.

As a point of comparison, the Plastic Garbage Project estimates worldwide use per capita stands at about 35 kilos or 77 lbs. That’s a lot of polymers.

Yes, humanity is faced with a staggering plastic problem that is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the next ten years and beyond. Mankind has evolved to the point where we depend on plastic, which we find everywhere within our reach, but now we’re drowning in it – or becoming encased in it.

Plastics consist of long molecular chains, known as polymers, created by linking the same repeated building element (monomer). Synthetically produced plastics are made from mineral oil, coal, or natural gas. A total of 4 percent of the worldwide production of oil and gas is destined for the manufacture of plastics.
In addition to synthetic plastics there are also the semi-synthetics that are made from natural polymers such as cellulose. Today, organic plastics made from sustainable raw materials are being produced in increasing amounts.
The most common types of plastics, known as the mass plastics, are: polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, polystyrene, PET, and polyurethane.

An estimated 1.3 billion tons (or more than 300 lbs. per person) of plastic is destined for our environment – both on land and in the ocean - by 2040, unless worldwide action is taken, according to a global model of the scale of the plastic problem over the next 20 years, reported the BBC.

Dr. Costas Velis from the University of Leeds was quoted as saying that the number was “staggering” but that we had “the technology and the opportunity to stem the tide.”

“This is the first comprehensive assessment of what the picture could be in 20 years’ time,” Velis explained. “It’s difficult to picture an amount that large, but if you could imagine laying out all that plastic across a flat surface, it would cover the area of the UK 1.5 times.” That’s 93,628 mi² times 1.5.

To turn this complex problem into numbers, the researchers tracked the production, use and disposal of plastic around the world. The team then created a model to forecast future plastic pollution. What they called a “business as usual” scenario – based on the current trend of increasing plastic production and no significant change in the amount of reuse and recycling – produced the 1.3 billion ton estimate.

By adjusting their model, the researchers were able to project how much different interventions would affect that number; they tweaked their model to increase recycling, reduce production and replace plastic with other available materials.

Winnie Lau from the US-based Pew Charitable Trusts, which funded the research, told BBC News that it was vital to put in place every possible solution. “If we do that,” she said, “we can reduce the amount of plastic that goes into the ocean by 2040 by 80%.” In other words there would be fewer plastic bottles bobbing up and down in the waves.

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% of plastic that cannot be recycled economically, as a transitional measure

§     reduce plastic waste exports 

Indeed, the crisis of plastics in our lives generally, and our oceans and waterways specifically, is a man-made crisis. We made the plastic, we dumped the plastic, and so the “good news” is that we can clean up the plastic. If we set our minds to the task.

But even if “all feasible action” was taken, Velis explained, the model showed there would be 710 million extra tons of plastic waste in the environment in the next two decades.

There is no “silver bullet solution,” for the plastic problem. But an often overlooked issue that this study highlighted was the fact that an estimated 2 billion people in the Global South have no access to proper waste management. “They have to just get rid of all their rubbish, so they have no choice but to burn or dump it,” said Velis.

And despite playing a major role in reducing global plastic waste, the roughly 11 million waste pickers – people who collect and sell reusable materials in low-income countries – often lack basic employment rights and safe working conditions.  

The oceans and adjacent waterways are important resources to maintain, clean and preserve, but they are not the only victims of this scourge.

Such a dramatic glut of plastic, which is virtually indestructible, would also affect land masses and life and commerce in all locations. Much of the plastic ends up in landfills, where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose, leaching potentially toxic substances into the soil and water. Studies estimate that one third of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater.

The public backlash against single use plastics is not the only consideration for businesses though it is a powerful one. Client Earth, the environmental lawyers, have just published Risk unwrapped: Plastic pollution as material business risk. Major companies face serious material business risks for their involvement in creating plastic waste, a new report shows. The report Risk unwrapped: Plastic pollution as material business risk details four types of business risk that companies may be exposed to and sets out the legal obligations on their directors to take action to deal with these risks. These include companies facing significant transition risks from fast-moving regulation, as well as major reputational damage for being perceived to be exacerbating the plastic crisis.

As with many business decisions, the customer is always right. Today, consumers demonstrate support for an issue with their purchases. Consideration for sustainability, organics, equality, inclusion, environmentalism and other such topics will not only ensure that the planet is healthy but also that your business prospers.

Tell your business and trading partners and customers that you’re involved in reducing plastic waste.