According to a report on the website of Spain's La Vanguardia on June 4th, it seems that we are addicted to plastic. Humans produce over 430 million tons of plastic every year. Plastic is everywhere in our lives and poses a major problem for the environment and human health. Scientists have proved that we are eating and breathing plastic.
This is why, following 2023, the United Nations has insisted on continuing to set the theme of World Environment Day for this year as "Ending Plastic Pollution". South Korea will host the global celebration event this year.
The next round of negotiations on a new global treaty to address plastic pollution is about to begin. The previous round of negotiations was held in Busan, South Korea at the end of last year.
Governments around the world are pinning their hopes on nature-based solutions and circular economy models to address the problem of plastic pollution. According to the United Nations, of the 9.2 billion tons of plastic produced globally from 1950 to 2017, approximately 7 billion tons have ended up as plastic waste. 46% of this waste is landfilled, 22% is improperly disposed of, and only 10% is recycled. Eventually, this waste flows into rivers or oceans, threatening aquatic life. Marine debris has harmed at least 800 species, and over 90% of birds and fish contain plastic microbeads.
It is estimated that there are currently between 75 and 199 million tons of plastic in the ocean. If we do not change the way we produce, use and discard plastic, between 23 and 37 million tons of plastic will flow into the ocean every year by 2040.
A study led by the University of Leeds in the UK and published in the journal Nature points out that currently 52 million tons of plastic products are dumped into the environment each year. If these wastes were lined up in a row, they could circle the Earth more than 1,500 times.
Plastic pollution not only affects animals and plants, but also has an impact on human health. Experts from the University of Leeds point out that more than two-thirds of plastic pollution comes from uncollected garbage, as about 1.2 billion people worldwide do not have access to garbage collection services. In addition, about 30 million tons of plastic were burned without control in 2020. Such burning is harmful to health, possibly increasing the risk of heart disease and exacerbating respiratory problems.
