Question

According to Ramani Narayan, recycling 100% of the plastic in North America and Europe would still not make a dent in the amount of plastics released into the oceans, why?

Answer 1

Around 1.1-2.4 millions tons of plastic waste currently enters the ocean every year from rivers. In that the top twenty rivers are mostly located in Asia, which accounts for 67% of the global total plastic waste. The growth of plastic production and its use has far outstripped the ability of waste management to keep up. In recent years the increase in production and the expanded use of disposable plastic packaging mostly in Asia, has contributed to plastic pollution as their garbage collection systems is underdeveloped or nonexistent. In a study published by Jambeck in 2015, found that just four Asian countries — China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam — account for about half the plastic waste that flows from land into the ocean. Europe and North America make up less than 5 percent because they have better systems for getting rid of waste. “Let’s say you recycle 100 percent in all of North America and Europe, you still would not make a dent on the plastics released into the oceans. If you want to do something about this, you have to go there, to these countries, and deal with the mismanaged waste.” says Ramani Narayan, a chemical engineering professor at Michigan State University who also works in his native India.

So what is mismanaged waste? Mismanaged waste is material which is at high risk of entering the ocean via wind or tidal transport, or carried to coastlines from inland waterways. Mismanaged waste is the sum of material which is either littered or inadequately disposed. China contributes the highest share of mismanaged plastic waste with around 28% of the global total, followed by 10% in Indonesia, 6 percent for both the Philippines and Vietnam. Other leading countries include Thailand (3.2%); Egypt (3%); Nigeria (2.7%) and South Africa (2%). In a recent study published by the Ocean Cleanup Foundation, a non-profit organization who are trying to get rid of plastic in oceans, estimated that mismanaged plastic waste generated each year could triple by 2060 if we continue to throw away plastic as we do now — with Africa and Asia disproportionately affected.

In high-income countries which includes most of Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea have very effective waste management infrastructure and systems. Their discarded plastic waste (even that which is not recycled or incinerated) is stored in secure, closed landfills. Across such countries almost no plastic waste is considered inadequately managed. This is not the case across many low-to-middle-income income countries. In those regions inadequately disposed waste can be high; for example, in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, between 80-90% of plastic waste is inadequately disposed of, and therefore at risk of polluting rivers and oceans.