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Since the early 1950s, the world has created 8.3 billion tonnes of plastics, with most of it now languishing in landfill or the environment. The weight alone is equivalent to one billion elephants, according to a 2017 study published in the journal Science Advances.Despite this, the petrochemical industry, home to the world’s favourite fossil fuel giants such as ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical, Chevron and Shell, plans to double plastics production over the next 20 years, and according to a 2020 report from Carbon Tracker, will be investing $400 billion in the next five years alone.
Carbon Tracker estimates that as a result, “the carbon footprint of plastics [will] double by the middle of the century to around 3.5 gigatonnes”. This is completely at odds with the Paris Agreement, which requires global CO2 emissions to halve by 2030.This infographic from the Carbon Tracker report illustrates the costs to society of virgin plastics production:

Recycling or greenwashing?
Even though less than 10% of all the plastic produced since the 1950s has been recycled, still the government and industry focus on recycling as the solution to tackling the mountain of waste. 
Jane Bremmer, the secretary of Zero Waste Australia and campaign director for the National Toxics Network told MWM that this was simply greenwashing. 
“Industry is selling plastic recycling to the world as the solution … but they know full well this is greenwashing designed to maintain business as usual as they drip feed relatively small quantities of recycled plastic into the virgin feedstocks.” 
Take PET (primarily plastic drink bottles) plastic, which is the easiest of all plastics to recycle. Even so it cannot compete with virgin plastic because it is between 83% and 93% more expensive to recycle into a new bottle than to produce a new one from raw materials. A 2019 Greenpeace report notes that “half of the PET sold is never collected for recycling, and only 7% of those bottles collected for recycling are turned into new bottles”.     
Plastic waste in Australia
As outlined in Australia’s 2020 National Waste Report, the price of virgin plastic has fallen substantially, which has flow-on effects for the commercial viability of recycling plants.
For most recycling companies, “the money they can make from kerbside recycling will now be less than the cost of providing the service”. According to the most recent ‘Australian Plastics Recycling Survey’, in 2018-19, Australia recovered just 11.5% of the 3.5 million tonnes of plastics it consumed that year. Consumption of plastics was also the highest it has been in the last five years:

The recycling survey report issues four key findings:

A total of 3.5 million tonnes of plastics were consumed in Australia; 
Some 393,800 tonnes of plastics were recovered, including 72,000 tonnes sent to energy recovery; 
the national plastics recovery rate was 11.5%; and
of the 393,800 tonnes of plastics collected for reprocessing, 203,100 tonnes (52%) was reprocessed in Australia and 190,700 tonnes (48%) was exported for reprocessing.

The chart below breaks down the consumption rates and recovery rates of plastics in 2018-19 into the main industry sectors.
Consumer packaging was the largest user of plastics, and although recycling rates in this sector were the second-highest, they were still just a paltry 27%.
The automotive industry recycled a tiny 1.9 per cent, while the electrical and electronics recycling rate was only marginally higher at 4.5%.

Levies on plastics producers
The Minderoo Foundation, established by Australian businessman Andrew Forrest and wife Nicola, released a report in May which found that in 2019 just 20 companies “accounted for more than half of all single-use plastic waste generated globally – and the top 100 accounted for 90 per cent”. ExxonMobil generated the most waste, followed by Dow Chemical, Sinopec, Indorama Ventures and Saudi Aramco. 
The report recommends a levy on the production of virgin plastics and the establishment of a global treaty to “address the problem at its source, with targets for the phasing out of fossil-fuel-based plastics”.
In its 2019 National Waste Policy Action Plan, the Federal Government announced plans to “stimulate demands for recycled materials relative to virgin materials” but did not provide any specific policies. Its 2021 National Plastics Plan pushed a similar line, prioritising recycling ahead of reducing production. 
And while the Greens policy focuses on phasing out single-use plastics and encouraging consumers to buy less plastic, they too champion recycling ahead of levies on companies producing virgin plastic.
Saved by a Kit Kat
A spokesman for federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley told Michael West Media: “The Morrison Government is taking unprecedented action to manage plastic packaging waste so we can reduce its impact on the environment.”
This included targets to achieve 20 per cent average recycled content in plastic packaging by 2025.
The spokesman pointed to Nestle producing a Kit Kat wrapper from soft plastics collected through kerbside recycling.
In response, Jane Bremmer noted,

“It is simply disingenuous of the federal Environment Minister to suggest that Nestle’s new recycled Kit Kat wrapper is a game changer. Nestle is perpetuating a single use plastic packaging model through recycling soft plastics.

This tokenistic action by one of the biggest plastic polluters on the planet won’t be enough to address [the problem], for which they have played a major role in creating.”

The 2020 Break Free From Plastics report found Nestle was in the top three highest global plastic polluters for consumer brands for the third year in a row, alongside Coca-Cola and Pepsico.
Peak body sings Government’s praises
Unsurprisingly, industry peak body Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) welcomed the Federal Government’s 2021 National Plastics Plan.
Asked whether levies should be introduced ACOR president Peter Tamblyn said this wouldn’t increase recovery rates.
“It’s more appropriate to [promote] the production of recyclable materials, to put a positive spin on things.
Tamblyn said ACOR had invested “$2 billion in new technologies [for recovery facilities] and more recycling infrastructure”. When asked how that would improve recycling rates, he said, “I haven’t got an answer for that … I don’t think there’s one thing that’s better than anything else.”
Tamblyn described an app ACOR will be releasing later this year that “helps people understand what [recycled waste] goes where” in regard to local council areas. However, these databases already exist.
He rejected the idea that there was little demand for recyclable goods compared with virgin plastics. “There’s a huge demand for recycled PET … we can’t get enough of it.”

The Louisiana Legislature has sent Gov. John Bel Edwards a bill that could double the punishment for people who fly drones over petrochemical facilities, pipelines or grain elevators. (“Drone and Moon” by Don McCullough is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
A bill that would increase penalties for flying drones above petrochemical facilities, pipelines and grain elevators is headed to Gov. John Bel Edwards’ desk  for his signature. 
HB265, by Rep. Ken Brass (D-Vacherie), increases the maximum fine for the second offense of flying a drone above critical infrastructure from $2,000 to $4,000 and increases the possible prison sentence from one year to two years. Jeff Hirsch, a lieutenant detective for the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, said that the threat from drones became evident in 2017.
That year, drones were seen flying over Dow Chemical and Occidental Chemical in St. Charles Parish, Hirsch said. The Sheriff’s Office researched equipment that could be used to detect the drones. Four antennas were installed in the parish last October to spot drones and identify pilots.
Since then, the Sheriff’s Office has detected 58,000 drones and has had conversations with 32 drone operators to inform them that they cannot fly over industrial facilities. “Everybody is surprised when we knock on their door, because they don’t think they can be found,” Hirsch said at a House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee meeting last month. 
Many of the drone operators identified by officers have been young kids. “To date, we’ve only had one second offense, and the father sold the son’s drone,” he said. St. James Parish has also installed a drone detection system. “Essentially our goal is to have a net of protection that follows critical infrastructure along the Mississippi River,” Hirsch said. 
There have been two arrests in St. James Parish that involved drone operators who continued to fly the unmanned aircraft over facilities after being told not to do so, Hirsch said. A first offense will remain a misdemeanor under HB 265. “We’re still defaulting more times than not to (believing) it was accidental,” he said. 
In 2018, legislators passed a law adding pipelines to the list of infrastructure considered critical. Doing so increased the legal penalties for those who trespass, or protest near pipelines. At least 15 people have been booked with breaking the law: a journalist and 14 protesters. Some of them filed a lawsuit in 2019 challenging the law, arguing that it inhibits free speech. Last month, a federal judge allowed the challenge to move forward.
Bill Quigley, a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. “Felony prosecutions for sending a drone over grain elevators is ridiculous,” he said of HB 265.
The Louisiana Chemical Association, Louisiana Airport Managers and Associates, Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, BASF and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry supported the bill.
The Louisiana House passed the bill 98-0, and the Senate passed it 36-0.

A family leaves church in October, 1998, in Lions, Louisiana. Credit: Andrew Lichtenstein Getty ImagesAdvertisement
After four years of an agenda that favored polluters, a new day is dawning at the Department of the Interior. In March, communities across the country rejoiced in Secretary Deb Haaland’s historic confirmation to lead the biggest and most powerful land management agency in the country. Now, she’s taking the opportunity to pursue real reforms of the broken oil and gas leasing system that has prioritized fossil fuel CEOs for too long. The possibilities for a cleaner, more equitable future are before us.

This will not be easy, but it is possible. Already, the Biden administration has turned its attention to the broken federal oil and gas leasing program by pausing all new leases on public lands. While this pause is in effect, I implore Secretary Haaland and the Department of the Interior to undertake an environmental justice review of the leasing program in order to address the racial discrimination within oil and gas operations. 

This review is an important first step in recognizing the injustices in the system, listening to the people who are impacted by them and hearing what their ideas are for reform. As the executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), I work with communities along the lower Mississippi River, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, that are harmed by environmental racism and face serious health threats from the more than 100 polluting facilities that release a deadly cocktail of poison each day. Throughout my nearly 30 years in this work, I have witnessed how the oil and gas industry has dominated the Gulf Coast region at the expense of Black communities, engulfing our neighborhoods with massive amounts of toxic pollution from oil refining and manufacturing.

This pollution flows through our backyards, school grounds and recreation centers, threatening our access to clean air and water and jeopardizing our health.  But all too often, the communities hit hardest by these dangers are ignored and left out of the conversation. We deserve better, and this leasing pause is the opportunity to give Secretary Haaland the chance to hear from us and to center justice and equity in reforms of the oil and gas program.

The environmental injustices our communities face are numerous. In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency published a report that found the petroleum sector released over 11 million pounds of pollution in 25 Louisiana parishes, with many of these facilities operating in close proximity to Black residents. Within this pollution were chemicals widely known to cause cancer and damage heart and lung functions, making it difficult to breathe and often leading to premature death. And now, as studies show that air pollution exacerbates the impacts of the COVID-19 virus, the threat that oil and gas facilities pose to our communities is only being magnified. 

Unfortunately, air pollution is not the only concern. In coastal communities, redlining, oil spills and offshore drilling add to racial inequality. Following the BP oil drilling disaster, massive amounts of oil waste were disposed of in landfills next to Black communities, jeopardizing our water supplies. And as offshore drilling continues, our coastlines are deteriorating, leaving many areas without natural defenses to extreme weather events. To make matters worse, greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry are massive contributors to the climate crisis, which disproportionately affects our communities where floods, heat waves and other climate-induced disasters have become the norm. 

Communities in the Gulf Coast region are advocating for equitable energy solutions that create new, good-paying jobs, keep our air and water clean and our climate safe—but we need the support of the federal government. The existential threat of climate change and the troubling health disparities in Black communities are among the egregious impacts of reckless oil and gas development. 

President Biden has made it clear that reforming the leasing system is a top priority for his administration. Now, with the leasing pause presenting an opportunity to complete a comprehensive review, it is imperative that the administration and Secretary Haaland join forces with us to prioritize an environmentally and economically just transition from fossil fuel development. We are counting on it.

This is an opinion and analysis article.

Rights & Permissions

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)Beverly L. Wright, PhD., is the founder and executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice. She is also an environmental justice scholar, author and professor of sociology.

Gaea Katreena Cabico (Philstar.com) – June 10, 2021 – 5:12pm

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines was the largest contributing country to the plastic waste that reaches the ocean, with the Pasig River ranked as the most polluting river in the world, a study by a Dutch nonprofit showed.

According to a study of The Ocean Cleanup published in Sciences Advances last April, the Philippines is home to 28% of the rivers responsible for ocean plastic pollution.

The Philippines had 466 rivers out of the 1,656 rivers that accounted for nearly 80% of plastic inputs to the ocean.  

The 27-kilometer Pasig River, which flows through the capital region, was identified as the most polluted by plastics.

In 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte abolished the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, which was tasked to ensure the rehabilitation of Pasig River to its “historically pristine condition conducive to transport, recreation, and tourism.”

Previous studies found the Yangtze River in China—the third longest in the world—as the highest plastic emitting river but it only ranked 64th in the recent study.

Other rivers in the Philippines that dumped the most amount trash and plastic into the ocean were the following:

Tullahan
Meycauayan
Pampanga
Libmanan
Rio de Grande de Mindanao
Agno
Agusan
Parañaque
Iloilo
Imus
Zapote
Cagayan de Oro
Davao
Malaking Tubig
Tambo, Pasay
Jalaur
Cagayan
Hamulauon

Smaller rivers

Earlier studies ranked the largest rivers in the world as the top contributors to marine plastic pollution.

But The Ocean Clean study identified small and medium-sized rivers that flow through coastal cities in emerging economies as the most polluting.

“Coastal cities associated with urban drainage and paves surfaces presented the highest emission probabilities, particularly in regions with high precipitation rates,” the study read.

View the map here. 

Plastic pollution

The Philippines, an archipelagic nation, was frequently listed among the top contributors to marine plastic pollution along with China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Malacañang called the ranking of Pasig River a “badge of dishonor” that could prompt “radical” actions from the government to rehabilitate Pasig River.   

The Climate Change Commission said the findings of the study raised “extreme concern” on the issue of mismanaged plastic waste in the country.

“[The study] supports the call of the commission for urgent efforts to solve the plastic crisis by implementing measures to regulate and in turn, halt the production of unnecessary plastics-made straws and stirrers, spoon and fork, and plastic labo, among others,” CCC said in a statement Wednesday.

The House of Representatives recently approved on second reading a bill which seeks to regulate the production, importation, sale, use and disposal of single-use plastic products. At the Senate, counterpart measures are still pending at the committee level.

In February, after 20 years, the National Solid Waste Management Commission included plastic soft drink straws and coffee stirrers in the list of non-environmentally acceptable products.

Plastics are very useful materials. They’ve contributed significant benefits to modern society. But the unprecedented amount of plastics produced over the past few decades has caused serious environmental pollution.

Packaging alone was responsible for 46% out of 340 million tonnes of plastic waste generated globally in 2018. Although plastic recycling has increased significantly in recent years, most plastics used today are single use, non-recyclable and non-biodegradable.

The demand for food will double by 2050. This will probably increase the amount of waste from food and its plastic packaging, putting poorer countries under tremendous pressure to manage waste disposal.

To tackle the issues of environmental damage, we need more sustainable materials that we can recycle or that biodegrade. There’s been a surge in plant-based plastics, but many of these can only be composted using industrial processes, not by people at home.

Now researchers at the University of Cambridge have found a way to make plastic from abundant and sustainable plant proteins. Inspired by spider silk, the film works in a way similar to other plastics, but it can be composted at home.

Types of plastic

Synthetic and non-biodegradable plastics commonly used for food packaging include polythene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS) and crystalline polythene terephthalate (CPET).

There are some processes in place for disposing of PET – namely mechanical and chemical recycling techniques – but most plastic around the world is still sent to landfills. PET can take hundreds of years to decompose and it’s non-biodegradable. This means it can continue to pollute the ecosystem for many years.

Making plastic requires lots of energy. Then, when plastics are thrown away, they cause environmental damage, including global warming, greenhouse gas emissions and damage to marine life.

Read more:
What happens to the plastic you recycle? Researchers lift the lid

On the other hand, there are some biodegradable plant-based plastics, such as polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polycaprolactone) (PCL) and polyhydroxyalkanotes (PHAs), which are friendlier to the environment than non-renewable polymers.

PLA polymers are produced from renewable resources and have the advantage of being recyclable and compostable. This makes PLA a much more environmentally friendly material than PET, PS and CPET. However, their long-term durability and stability are lower than their synthetic counterparts.

The new material

The new research has investigated the potential use of a biodegradable and renewable polymer, such as soy protein, to make a new material that could be an alternative to other plant-based plastics.

The researchers created a plant-based plastic and added nanoparticles – particles smaller than one millionth of a metre. This meant they could control the structure of the material to create flexible films, with a material that looks like spider silk on a molecular level. They’ve called it a “vegan spider silk”.

The new material in action.
Xampla

The team used various techniques, including scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy to study the structure of the film.

They analysed important properties, such as barrier properties and moisture absorption. They found the nanoparticles helped to increase the various properties – strength and long-term durability and stability – significantly.

By creating a plastic with a more environmentally friendly manufacturing process, made from sustainable materials itself, a significant amount of energy can be saved. This is one of the most exciting parts of this study.

This new material could help solve some of the problems that plastic pollution has caused to the environment – by introducing a material from renewable source with enhanced properties suitable for many engineering applications, including packaging.

The study could help to scale up the production of sustainable packaging materials, using natural resources and less energy consumption, while reducing the amount of plastic going into landfill.

It’s both durable and strong, but also easily breaks down in nature—unlike some other “compostable” plastics.
[Photo: Xampla]
By

When it’s no longer needed, the plastic starts eating itself from the inside.
[Photo: Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering]
By

When world leaders gather at the G-7 summit in Cornwall, Britain, this week, they’ll be able to gaze out across the water and see their own faces on a massive Mount Rushmore-style sculpture made out of electronics waste.“Mount Recyclemore” sits on beach dunes opposite the Carbis Bay Hotel, where the summit is taking place. It depicts President Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.The unusual piece of folk art is the work of Joe Rush, a sculptor who told the BBC that he had been commissioned by musicMagpie, a British retailer that sells secondhand electronics. Its goal is to call to attention to the environmental problems caused by electronic waste.“We have this looking at them, and hopefully we’re going to prick their conscience and make them realize they’re all together in this waste business,” Rush said. “The key message is talk to each other, and let’s sort this mess out.”Made from old scrap metal, keyboards, telephones, circuit boards, iPads, computer monitors and other unwanted items, the sculpture appeared this week and is still being completed, according to CornwallLive. Rush says that it highlights the fact that more electronic devices need to be made in a way that allows them to be reused or recycledElectronic waste often contains dangerous chemicals that can become environmental hazards when incinerated or dumped in a landfill. The United Nations and International Telecommunication Union estimate that 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste were produced in 2019, an all-time high.“E-waste poses a huge threat to the environment — and developed nations are among the worst offenders for producing it,” musicMagpie said in a statement. “With the G-7 summit taking place in Cornwall, we decided to create a sculpture to send a message.”Four of the G-7 nations — the United States, Japan, Germany and Britain — rank as the top producers of electronic waste, the company said.