Status: 07/01/2021 8:06 p.m.
A research team warns of far-reaching consequences for the environment from plastic waste. Although awareness of pollution is increasing, emissions are increasing. The scientists are calling for a quick rethink.
According to researchers, the annual plastic pollution of water and on land could almost double from 2016 to 2025 if people continue as before. The global input of plastic into lakes, rivers and oceans in 2016 was estimated to have been 9 to 23 million tons, writes the team from Germany, Sweden and Norway in a review article. A similarly large amount – 13 to 25 million tons – ended up in the environment on land that year, according to the article, which is published in the science magazine “Science” within a focus on plastic.
“Plastic is ingrained in our society and it seeps into the environment everywhere, even in countries with good waste treatment infrastructure,” said Matthew MacLeod of Stockholm University. The emissions are tending to increase, although the awareness of plastic pollution in science and the public has increased significantly in recent years.
Particularly remote areas are threatened
Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, AWI) in Bremerhaven and the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig were also involved in the review. Mine Tekman at AWI warned against the impression that anything can be “magically” recycled if plastic waste is properly separated. “Technologically speaking, plastic recycling has many limitations and countries that have good infrastructure export their plastic waste to countries with poorer facilities,” she said. There is also a fundamental problem with non-biodegradable materials. She therefore called for drastic measures, such as a ban on the export of plastic waste, unless it takes place in a country with better recycling.
Remote areas are particularly threatened by plastic waste, explained Annika Jahnke from the UFZ. There it could not be removed by cleaning up. The weathering of large pieces of plastic also inevitably leads to the formation of a large number of micro- and nanoplastic particles and to the leaching of chemicals that have been deliberately added to the plastic.
Warning of “enormous” costs
In addition to the environmental damage that plastic pollution could cause from animal tangling alone and toxic effects, the research team also warned that, when combined with other environmental stressors, it could have far-reaching or even global effects in remote areas. An influence on the biodiversity in the sea and on its carbon pump, which is important for the climate, is conceivable. Plastic acts as an additional stressor there.
“The cost of ignoring the build-up of persistent plastic pollution in the environment could be enormous,” MacLeod said. “The most sensible thing we can do is act as quickly as possible to reduce the amount of plastic entering the environment.”
Some products made from single-use plastic will be banned from July in the EU and therefore also in Germany. This affects items for which there are alternatives, such as drinking straws, stirring sticks, balloon sticks or disposable dishes. Certain drinking cups and disposable styrofoam containers are also no longer allowed to be produced or put on the market. Existing goods can still be sold.