Sustainability

Though the story of plastic pollution, big and small, began decades ago in remote central ocean gyres, we now know that plastic debris is ubiquitous across all ocean basins, ecosystems, habitats, and food webs—including in seafood and sea salt. In addition to work on understanding contamination, researchers have expanded their breadth of questioning toward the sources, fates, transformations, and effects of plastic pollution. A deeper understanding has revealed the many ways in which plastic debris interacts with planetary cycles and affects physical and biological processes. An expanding scientific field has paralleled a growing policy movement that spans multiple levels of government from municipal to international. -- from the abstract

This paper concludes that single-use items are harmful to the environment regardless of their material. Therefore, banning or imposing a premium price on single-use items in general and not only single-use plastic items is a more effective method of reducing consumption and thereby pollution. The plastics ban only leads to a small reduction of global plastic marine pollution and thus provides only a partial solution to the problem it intends to solve. -- from the abstract

Plastic microfibre pollution produced by domestic and commercial laundering of synthetic textiles has recently been incriminated in the press and the scientific literature as the main source (up to 90%) of primary microplastics in the oceans. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most common microfibre encountered. This review aims to provide updated information on worldwide plastic microfibre pollution caused by textile laundering and some possibilities for its control.

Plastic shopping bags are convenient to use because they are lightweight and inexpensive, and yet they are also a major source of plastic pollution. People worldwide use an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion single-use plastic bags each year. Although plastic bags are recyclable, very few actually are because the cost of recycling is greater than the cost of producing new bags. As a result, most plastic bags end up in landfills or as litter in the environment. Paper bags and reusable bags have been suggested as alternatives for replacing plastic bags. While some question whether these replacement products are better for the environment, studies show that the answer is yes, but with a few caveats. -- from the abstract

To tackle the plastic problem, the worldwide campaign ‘Plastic Free July’ aims at encouraging people to reduce single-use plastics during the month of July. To get people started with new behavior patterns, so-called ‘windows of opportunity’—periods where people become open for new experiences—are expected to matter. Therefore, the current study evaluated if an arbitrary month that is framed as an opportunity for change can interrupt people in their daily routines and reduce plastic consumption. -- from the abstract

As plastic waste accumulates in the ocean at alarming rates, the need for efficient and sustainable remediation solutions is urgent. One solution is the development and mobilization of technologies that either 1) prevent plastics from entering waterways or 2) collect marine and riverine plastic pollution. To date, however, few reports have focused on these technologies, and information on various technological developments is scattered. This leaves policymakers, innovators, and researchers without a central, comprehensive, and reliable source of information on the status of available technology to target this global problem. The goal of this study was to address this gap by creating a comprehensive inventory of technologies currently used or in development to prevent the leakage of plastic pollution or collect existing plastic pollution. -- from the abstract

"Here’s everything you need to know about the most ubiquitous (and avoidable) kind of plastic waste: the kind made to be tossed in mere minutes."

The benefits of plastic are undeniable. The material is cheap, lightweight and easy to make. These qualities have led to a boom in the production of plastic over the past century. This trend will continue as global plastic production skyrockets over the next 10 to 15 years. We are already unable to cope with the amount of plastic waste we generate, unless we rethink the way we manufacture, use and manage plastics. Ultimately, tackling one of the biggest environmental scourges of our time will require governments to regulate, businesses to innovate and individuals to act.
This paper sets out the latest thinking on how we can achieve this. It looks at what governments, businesses and individuals have achieved at national and sub-national levels to curb the consumption of single-use plastics. It offers lessons that may be useful for policymakers who are considering regulating the production and use of single-use plastics.

Plastics have become a severe transboundary threat to natural ecosystems and human health, with studies predicting a twofold increase in the number of plastic debris (including micro and nano-sized plastics) by 2030. However, such predictions will likely be aggravated by the excessive use and consumption of single-use plastics (including personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves) due to COVID-19 pandemic. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview on the effects of COVID-19 on macroplastic pollution and its potential implications on the environment and human health considering short- and long-term scenarios; addressing the main challenges and discussing potential strategies to overcome them.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. So goes the well worn idiom. When it comes to Canadian waste being shipped overseas, however, we’re increasingly seeing countries refuse to accept it. But where’s it going? And why?

Amidst growing concern about the impacts of plastic on the oceans, ecosystems, and human health, there’s another largely hidden dimension of the plastic crisis: plastic’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. This report examines each of these stages of the plastic lifecycle to identify the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, sources of uncounted emissions, and uncertainties that likely lead to underestimation of plastic’s climate impacts.

At every stage of plastic’s lifecycle, it pollutes. Plastic’s contribution to air, land and water pollution starts long before it becomes waste or pollution. It threatens the health of so many aspects of our lives, we just may not realize it.

While it’s tough to say exactly how much plastic is in the ocean, scientists think about 8 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010. That’s the weight of nearly 90 aircraft carriers, and the problem continues to grow.
These plastics come in many different forms. Just think about all the plastic items you use daily: the toothbrush you grab first thing in the morning, the container your lunch comes in, or the bottle you drink water from after your workout.
All these things get used and, eventually, thrown out. Many plastic products are single-use items that are designed to be thrown out, like water bottles or take out containers. These are used and discarded quickly. If this waste isn’t properly disposed of or managed, it can end up in the ocean.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world and is located between Hawaii and California. Scientists of The Ocean Cleanup have conducted the most extensive analysis ever of this area.

While paper packaging isn’t entirely benign — some 3 billion trees are pulped every year to produce 241 million tons of shipping cartons, cardboard mailers, void-fill wrappers, and other paper-based packaging, according to forest conservation group Canopy — single-use plastics present the bigger concern for environmentalists because they can persist in the environment, sometimes for hundreds of years. And their recyclability is often oversold.

With COVID-19 restrictions forcing restaurants to increase take-out services, Takeda-Tully wanted to come up with an alternative to help eliminate the mountain of garbage created from single-use plastic and styrofoam containers.

A large portion of PPE waste is disposed of through the regular garbage system or simply tossed aside – left on the ground as litter in parks and on sidewalks. This has sparked a complex global plastic crisis.