The Growing Plastic Problem

 Dr Anjani Ganase provides an update on the problem that has grown through the pandemic, and likely to continue unless there are more committed approaches at personal and industrial levels (Photos by Pat Ganase)

 

We have a plastic problem. While the pandemic rages on - we know it will continue to be around for some time - there are other issues that have never gone away, indeed have escalated.  Plastic pollution is a major issue for us and our natural environment; and it will exacerbate the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss. Here is an update on the latest research on plastic pollution for 2021.

 

Even a pristine landscape like Toco collects plastic trash

 

Pollution and the pandemic

 

We have diligently followed the rules – mask up, sanitise and socially distance – to protect ourselves from the corona virus. While pollution from single-use plastics continues to grow (increasing by 31 % in 2025 compared to 2015), the pandemic has escalated the amount of plastic for medical use as protective gear. This includes items such as gloves, masks, face shields. Another small but noticeable contributor to plastic pollution related to the pandemic is the increase in online shopping increasing packaging waste. As we expect the pandemic to continue for another three to five years, the modified behaviour of the “new normal” may persist for the rest of our lives.

 

Scientists have estimated about eight million tons of plastic waste have already been generated from the pandemic alone with a portion of this inevitably ending up in waterways and the oceans. Most large cities around the world are associated with a major river system which fast-tracks the passage of plastics to the sea.  One report estimates about 1.5 million face masks entered the ocean in 2020, increasing the threat to the marine life. Once in the ocean plastics have a couple of destinations. Much may end up washed up on a foreign beach if it is not ingested or entrapping marine organisms along the way. Some of the waste will sink to the seafloor smothering the marine life on the bottom. And some will remain on the ocean current to join the ever-increasing and persistent garbage patches trapped in the ocean gyres. It is expected that mismanaged plastic waste will increase to about 11 million tonnes as we do not expect  complete control of covid cases for another three to five years.

 

Plastic garbage at the Toco lighthouse

 

Pollution impacts on marine life

 

Plastic debris drifting in the open ocean wreaks havoc on marine life by smothering corals on reefs, entangling or being ingested by fish, turtle, seabirds and marine mammals. More recently, because of the persistence of the plastic waste in the ocean gyres over several decades, scientists are seeing coastal marine creatures living on “plastic islands” as a result of being washed out to the open sea. The gathered plastic debris creates a hybridized habitat composed of coastal crabs, barnacles, molluscs etc living and reproducing, as well as interacting with the marine organisms that live on the surface water of oceans. Unlike natural debris that tends to fragment, decay and sink at a faster rate, the artificial structures can be colonised by open ocean marine life that may also have stowaways from land. In the years to come, scientists will be interested in any evolutionary or ecological paradigm shifts as the marine life observed on the floating patches have become quite common.

 

Examples of the persistence of coastal creatures on floating debris have been documented on debris from the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. In the following years, Japanese coastal marine life was found along the shores of Hawai’i, as well as on the Pacific coast of the USA over 6000 km away. Such extensive travel brings with it some concerns related to invasive species that may colonise new areas and impact local wildlife. There is much to learn about this artificial hybrid ecosystem by researchers. We know it’s a growing environment as the ocean is expected to collect more plastics as humans are expected to generate a total of 25 million metric tonnes of plastics by 2050.

 

All plastic trash ends up in the sea

Effects on climate change, health and economies

 

While we are aware that pollution is caused by inappropriate disposal of plastic, the production of plastics has a huge carbon footprint since it is largely produced in coal-based economies like China and Indonesia and South Africa with most exported to the USA and EU. Increasing demand will ramp up production and exacerbate climate change. Meanwhile the recycling rate for plastics globally remains less then 10 %.

 

Microplastic emissions are also on the rise with new studies highlighting what is  shed from tyres and from fabrics. These end up in our waterways and food chains with detrimental consequences to marine animals and to us. Studies are revealing the impacts on human health when microplastics disrupt our endocrine function; build up in organs such as the placenta; and leech chemicals into our blood stream through digestion. More obvious are the impacts to our fishing industry and tourism sector because of the contamination of the resources that these depend on. The UN has estimated a risk of over 100 billion USD because of the loss of resources (tourism, fish stock etc) and the cost of waste management in impact areas such as ports and beaches to remove plastic garbage.  

 

“the monetary value for plastics in 2020 amounts to around US$ 580 billion while the monetary value of losses of marine natural capital is estimated to be as high as US$ 2,500 billion per year.” – UNEP 2021

 

Unless we resolve these problems in an integrated way, we will continue to generate future issues. We may not forsake the of use plastics to protect ourselves during a pandemic, and the additional carbon freely emitted into the atmosphere may be the price of global development. But until we weigh the full chain of consequences or consider feedback systems where the waste becomes another resource, we will have to deal with emergent messes be they viruses, global warming or plastic waste.

 

The critical issues of plastic pollution and climate change should not take a back seat during this pandemic: they provide lessons about how we treat the earth’s natural ecosystems especially when we use these resources uncaringly for the sake of our own well-being.

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

Peng, Yiming, et al. "Plastic waste release caused by COVID-19 and its fate in the global ocean." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.47 (2021).

 

Cabernard, Livia, et al. "Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion." Nature Sustainability (2021): 1-10.

 

Haram, Linsey E., et al. "Emergence of a neopelagic community through the establishment of coastal species on the high seas." Nature Communications 12.1 (2021): 1-5.

 

United Nations Environment Programme (2021). From Pollution to Solution: A global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution. Synthesis. Nairobi