A POISON LIKE NO OTHER
Onderzoeksjournalist Matt Simon windt er geen doekjes om. In zijn nieuwe boek stelt hij dat we met microplastics onze aarde én onszelf hebben vergiftigd.
How realistic is the New Plastics Economy?
A new report on dealing with the plastic soup was presented at the World Economic Forum, where world leaders came together from 20 to 23 January 2016, in Davos. New Plastics Economy was produced by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with an impressive number of companies and institutes. The report highlights the gravity of plastic pollution – “in 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea” – and notes that it is primarily plastic packaging that is the culprit.
The report’s premise is simple. Plastic has multiple advantages such as improved food safety and lower transport costs and is therefore indispensable. Of all the plastic packaging, 95% is lost to the economy after use. This represents a loss of 80 to 120 billion dollars. As much of that plastic ends up in the environment and has caused and continues to contribute to the plastic soup, this generates even more costs. The New Plastics Economy must stimulate change by viewing more plastics as a basic resource and keeping it in the economic system. The disposable economy needs to rapidly turn into the circular economy.
The proposed solution is not to dramatically reduce plastics, but to take a three pronged approach. One, processing facilities for plastic waste in the countries which contribute significantly to the plastic soup – primarily in Asia – need to be improved. Two, and of greater importance, the researchers propose to make plastic waste more economically attractive. And finally, three, the material itself needs to be improved. Plastics need to be developed which, once in the marine environment, cause less damage.
One fundamental problem of the proposed solution is that a higher economic value for plastic waste is unrealistic. Almost all plastic is made of fossil fuels and the current price of 30 dollars a barrel is a historic low. The continuously low oil price pushes the production costs of plastic down. The result is a spike in the production of plastic with even more uses found. The value of plastic waste will thus not increase, but actually decrease. Each product, for example, could be packaged three times in plastic without significant additional costs. Recycling companies around the world are going bankrupt.
What is most needed is to strongly restrict the unbridled production of single use plastic. By creating scarcity, you can increase the value of plastic waste. Unfortunately, the companies consulted in this report are unwilling to discuss production limitation. This is the simple reason that this option is not mentioned at all in this report.
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