Image: Angela Compagnone via Unsplash
Scientists have created the first global registry of plastic pollution, finding that up to 57 million tons of plastic waste could end up in the ocean, on mountaintops or in the bloodstream, as Smithsonian Magazine reports.
Researchers used artificial intelligence to model waste management in more than 50,000 municipalities around the world and predict the total amount of plastic entering the environment.
Plastic pollution in the study represents only one-fifth of the world’s plastic waste. The authors argue that improving access to waste collection services could reduce the problem.
According to lead author Josh Cottom, uncollected waste is a major source of pollution, as 1.2 billion people live without trash collection services.
According to the statement, this “self-managed” plastic waste accounts for more than two-thirds of the modelled plastic pollution. Plastic burning has become a serious problem, with 30 million tons of plastic burned without environmental oversight in 2020.
The study identified the countries with the largest contribution to plastic pollution: India ranks first with 10.2 million tons per year, followed by Nigeria, Indonesia and China (fourth place). The United States is in 90th place, producing more than 52,500 tons of plastic annually. The ranking highlights the gap between countries in the North and South. Low- and middle-income countries produce less plastic waste overall, but its disposal is often improper, increasing pollution. In contrast, high-income countries generate more waste but have efficient disposal systems, which reduces pollution.
However, “we should not put the blame, of whatever kind, on the Global South,” says Velis Sethu Borenstein of the Associated Press. He adds that people’s ability to dispose of waste properly depends on their government’s ability to provide the necessary services.
Teresa Karlsson, a consultant with the International Pollutant Disposal Network, Therese Karlsson notes that the study does not sufficiently highlight the trade in plastic waste that rich countries send to poor countries. She believes that the waste trade is, on the contrary, increasing.
Researchers are now calling for waste collection to be seen as an elementary necessity ahead of negotiations for a global treaty on plastics recycling scheduled for November in South Korea.
