| This is the last CSR Newsletter of the Fall semester. Happy Holidays and I will see you in the new year! |
The article in the url below announces the start of negotiations trying to secure a "global plastic treaty" that were hosted recently in South Korea. Needless to say, there are many barriers to progress:
"The final round of United Nations-brokered talks aimed at tackling plastic pollution opened in South Korea with deep divisions over the need to stem the rising flood of the material, a rift that threatens to scupper a two-year long quest for a deal."
But, what stood out to me were the projections for plastic production that were used to frame the start of the negotiations:
"Plastic production will jump 70% to 736 million tons a year by 2040, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, dramatically increasing volumes as research shows how toxic the materials are as they accumulate in the natural environment and in human bodies."
The graph on the OECD website that these data were taken from is equally concerning, reinforcing the idea that we are not very good at reducing our consumption of plastic – if it happens at all, it seems that a global economic recession is required:
This explanatory text accompanies the chart:
"Plastics production doubled between 2000 and 2019, from 234 to 460 million tonnes (Mt). … Recycled plastics will continue to make up a mere 6% of all plastics produced in 2040. As plastic volumes balloon, mismanaged waste will increase by 47% and plastic leakage to the environment by 50% by 2040 (from 2020 levels), threatening ecosystems and the people that depend on them."
However useful plastic is (and it is very useful), something needs to give. It is hard to see how we can keep pumping toxic waste into the natural environment.
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2023
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Can the World Unite to End the Plastic Pollution Crisis?
By Leslie Kaufman and Aaron Clark
November 24, 2024
Bloomberg
