Hi all, The first-ever global plastic pollution inventory demonstrates the tremendous scale of plastic pollution worldwide. University of Leeds researchers used AI to examine plastic waste emissions (debris and open burned plastic) in over 50,000 municipalities around the world. Their study findings were recently published in the journal Nature. The researchers found that a whopping 52 million tonnes of plastic pollution entered the environment in 2020. If someone laid out all those products in a line, they would wrap around the earth over 1500 times! The microplastics from these products are reaching from the highest mountaintops to the deepest oceans, and worryingly, they end up inside people’s bodies, spurring human health concerns. At the city level, Lagos, Nigeria, emitted the most plastic pollution, followed by New Dehli, India; Luanda, Angola; Karachi, Pakistan; and Al Qahirah, Egypt. At the country level, India is by far the top polluting nation, followed by Nigeria, Indonesia, and China. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, and Brazil are also top polluting countries. According to the study, these eight nations are responsible for over half of plastic pollution around the world.
The US ranks 90th in plastic pollution, and the UK ranks 135th, where littering is the most significant source of pollution. Littering is a primary source of plastic pollution in high-income countries. These countries have access to proper waste disposal, which is not the case in the highest polluting nations. This means that those who want to tackle the plastic pollution crisis in high-income countries are able to address its behavioral drivers. The 1.5 billion people in low-income countries where trash remains uncollected do not have the luxury of choice in this regard. While sustainability professionals in high-income countries address the behavioral drivers of littering, policymakers are turning to legislation as a solution. In 2022, most of the world’s nations drafted the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution. Currently, the most contentious idea is limiting how much plastic is produced globally. So far, this idea remains in the text despite strong objections from plastic-producing companies and oil and gas exporters. Final negotiations for this treaty will happen in November. To read the open access University of Leeds study, click here.
The US ranks 90th in plastic pollution, and the UK ranks 135th, where littering is the most significant source of pollution. Littering is a primary source of plastic pollution in high-income countries. These countries have access to proper waste disposal, which is not the case in the highest polluting nations. This means that those who want to tackle the plastic pollution crisis in high-income countries are able to address its behavioral drivers. The 1.5 billion people in low-income countries where trash remains uncollected do not have the luxury of choice in this regard. While sustainability professionals in high-income countries address the behavioral drivers of littering, policymakers are turning to legislation as a solution. In 2022, most of the world’s nations drafted the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution. Currently, the most contentious idea is limiting how much plastic is produced globally. So far, this idea remains in the text despite strong objections from plastic-producing companies and oil and gas exporters. Final negotiations for this treaty will happen in November. To read the open access University of Leeds study, click here.
