Ecologists sound alarm on plastic pollution

Date:
September 17, 2020
Source:
University of Toronto
Summary:
Ecologists examining plastic pollution entering oceans, rivers
and lakes around the world annually, outline potential impacts
of various mitigation strategies over the coming decade. The
researchers estimate the scale of human response needed to reduce
future emissions and manage what's already floating around out
there and recommend a fundamental shift to a framework based on
recycling where end-of-life plastic products are valued rather
than becoming waste.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Ecologists studying the prevalence of plastic pollution in aquatic
ecosystems around the world are concerned after measuring the scale
of human response needed to reduce future emissions and manage what's
already floating around out there.


========================================================================== "Unless growth in plastic production and use is halted, a fundamental transformation of the plastic economy to a framework based on recycling
is essential, where end-of-life plastic products are valued rather
than becoming waste," says Chelsea Rochman, assistant professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto
(U of T), and senior author of a study published in Science outlining the accelerating pace with which plastic emissions enter Earth's waterways annually.

"Even if governments around the world meet their ambitious global
commitments, and other countries join those efforts to curb plastic
pollution, worldwide annual emissions to rivers, lakes and oceans could
be as much as 53 million metric tonnes by the year 2030," says Stephanie Borrelle, Smith Postdoctoral Fellow at U of T and lead author on the
study. "That's far beyond the 8 million metric tonnes amount that was
declared unacceptable in 2015." The research by an international group
of experts led by Rochman and Borrelle, consisted of an evaluation of
the level of effort needed to achieve a global reduction target for
plastic pollution of less than 8 million metric tonnes (MT).

The group first estimated that 24-34 million MT of plastic emissions
currently enter aquatic ecosystems every year. They then modelled future scenarios using existing mitigation strategies: reducing production of
plastic waste (which includes bans), improving management of plastic
waste that is produced, and continuous recovery (i.e., cleanup) from
the environment.

The researchers found that even with parallel efforts in all three
solutions, the level of effort required within each is enormous: (1)
a 25 -- 40% reduction in the production of plastic across all economies;


==========================================================================
(2) increasing the level of waste collection and management to at least
60% across all economies -- with a change from 6 -- 60% in low-income economies; (3) recovery of 40% of annual plastic emissions through
cleanup efforts.

"To put that last number into people power, the cleanup alone would
require at least 1 billion people participating in Ocean Conservancy's
annual International Coastal Cleanup," says Borrelle. "This would be a Herculean task given this is 660 times the effort of the 2019 cleanup."
The researchers note, however, that even if the prescribed effort is
realized, the world remains locked into an unacceptable plastic future.

"The global community must coordinate a fundamental transformation of
the plastics economy, one that reduces the amount of virgin plastic
production, and reimagines how we make use and dispose of plastic
materials," says Rochman.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation through
the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC).


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Toronto. Original
written by Sean Bettam.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Stephanie B. Borrelle, Jeremy Ringma, Kara Lavender Law, Cole C.

Monnahan, Laurent Lebreton, Alexis Mcgivern, Erin Murphy, Jenna
Jambeck, George H. Leonard, Michelle A. Hilleary, Marcus Eriksen,
Hugh P.

Possingham, Hannah De Frond, Leah R. Gerber, Beth Polidoro,
Akbar Tahir, Miranda Bernard, Nicholas Mallos, Megan Barnes,
Chelsea M. Rochman.

Predicted growth in plastic waste exceeds efforts to mitigate
plastic pollution. Science, 2020 DOI: 10.1126/science.aba3656 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200917181303.htm

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