Plastic Waste – Massive Accumulation in the Environment Predicted

According to a report published July 23, 2020 in Science Magazine https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/07/22/science.aba9475 researchers estimated “… the effectiveness of interventions to reduce plastic pollution … [They modeled] stocks and flows of municipal solid waste and four sources of microplastics through the global plastic system for five scenarios between 2016 and 2040. Implementing all feasible interventions reduced plastic pollution by 40% from 2016 rates and 78% relative to ‘business as usual’ in 2040. Even with immediate and concerted action, 710 million metric tons of plastic waste cumulatively entered aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. To avoid a massive build-up of plastic in the environment, coordinated global action is urgently needed to reduce plastic consumption, increase rates of reuse, waste collection and recycling, expand safe disposal systems and accelerate innovation in the plastic value chain …” – The report was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts (PCT), and conducted by researchers with PCT, the University of Leeds, the University of Oxford, SYSTEMIQ and others http://www.leeds.ac.uk/spotlight-article/95/ #MicroPlastics #PlasticWaste #Recycling #SingleUsePlastic