What Happens to Plastic Waste? An Observational Comedy Special!
So, have you ever wondered what happens to the millions of tons of plastic waste produced every year? No? Well, you should, because it’s just as messy as an unfinished crossword puzzle by an eight-year-old on a sugar high!
Plastic: A Modern Miracle… Or Nightmare?
Every year, cities around the world generate around 250 million tons of plastic waste—think of it as the weight of 42 Giza pyramids, if those pyramids were filled with the remnants of last night’s takeout. Much of this waste finds its way to landfills—which is about as exciting as watching paint dry—but a surprising chunk gets a hot and toxic farewell, going up in smoke, literally!
A delightful new study, published in *Nature*, reveals that a hefty amount of our beloved plastic is burning in the open air. I mean, if you’ve ever seen an open flame wedding where guests roast their marshmallows, just imagine our plastic waste joining the festivities—except there’s no s’mores, just toxic smoke and regret!
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (and Lungs)
Now, here’s a kicker: 21% of this plastic waste goes unmanaged! That’s right, it’s like that one person at a party who just keeps hanging around the snack table without any intention of leaving. Costas Velis—one of the study’s authors—chimes in with a warning: “This shows what’s going wrong when it comes to managing plastic waste.” Amen, Costas! The real tragedy here is not just the waste, but the fallout, which is burning holes in our health faster than a poorly made campfire!
Let’s Get Local: The Waste Management Horror Show
According to the researchers, around 1.5 billion people globally—many living in the Global South—are left out in the cold without municipal services to pick up their trash. Imagine living in a place where your waste disposal system consists of an optimistic wave goodbye as you toss your garbage into the general direction of… who knows where. It’s not pretty! People resort to burying their plastic or, in a real sad twist, simply burning it. Fire is exciting, right? If only their waistlines burned calories as fast as their plastic waste burns in the open air!
The Health Risks: A Punchline That’s Not Funny!
Dr. Open Burning Plastic (not their real name) says the consequences link directly to health problems. We’re talking heart disease, respiratory issues, and let’s not forget the neurological problems that pop up. Open burning of plastic produces particulate matter that’s responsible for about 7 million deaths a year—yes, 7 million! So, while you may enjoy an evening barbecue, remember that those burning plastic-filled trash heaps are serving the world aged despair à la mode.
Governments: The Real Unfunny Comedians
In a laughable twist of irony, wealthier countries—the ones generating the most plastic waste—often have a better waste disposal system than those less fortunate. They send a portion of their “problems” to poorer countries, as if to say, “Hello, neighbors! Care to share a little bit of our mess?” It’s like borrowing sugar from your neighbor but leaving behind an entire cake and a small garbage dump!
The Next Steps: Will Plastic Ever Get ‘Fined’?
Now I know what you’re thinking. As the world grapples with establishing the first international plastics agreement, the call for better waste management grows louder than a drunken karaoke session. Researchers hope their study sheds light on which countries are being the plastic-pollution party animals and how we can put a cap on this disgraceful dance!
Conclusion: Can We Change Our Ways?
As Ed Cook, a co-author of the study, poignantly puts it, “At this point, it is too late… the child has already fallen into the well.” So, folks, it’s time to reevaluate our habit of sticking our BBQ waste under the rug while the kids are still playing with plastic action figures. The planet deserves better, and frankly, so do we! Let’s start cleaning up our act before we find ourselves living in a giant plastic bubble.
Rebecca Tan contributed to this report.
PressSplit
What happens to the millions of tons of plastic waste that are produced every year? A research project follows the path of plastic.
In a year, cities around the world generate around 250 million tons of plastic waste – plastic bottles, cigarette butts, plastic packaging and much more. Much of this waste – equivalent to the weight of 42 Giza pyramids – is sent to landfills; some of it is recycled.
A new study released on Wednesday (September 4) in the magazine Nature published However, it shows that a large part of the world’s plastic waste is burned in the open air, which harms human health Health “This shows what is going wrong when it comes to managing plastic waste,” said Costas Velis, a senior lecturer in civil engineering at the University of Leeds and one of the paper’s authors, in a telephone interview.
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Twenty-one percent of all plastic waste goes unmanaged, according to the new study – meaning it never ends up in a landfill or recycling facility. Much of this unmanaged waste, about 57 percent, is burned outdoors, resulting in deadly air pollution. Several countries in the global south are among the biggest polluters. India’s communities burned about 5.8 million tons of plastic in 2020, while Indonesia burned about 1.9 million tons. Russia is also in the top five, openly burning more than 1.4 million tons of plastic in the same year.
A spokesman for the presidential office in Indonesia referred questions to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, which did not respond to inquiries about the study. India’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change also did not respond to a request for comment.
Where does the plastic waste end up? Researchers collect detailed data
Researchers collected detailed data from over 500 communities, representing over 12 percent of the world’s population in 2015. For each city, they analyzed where plastic waste ends up using official data sets and surveys. They then used machine learning and statistical methods to estimate the fate of plastic in more than 50,000 locations around the world. The result is a detailed inventory of what happens to the millions of tons of plastic waste that people consume every year.
Burning pile of garbage (symbolic image). © Pond5 Images/Imago
Around 1.5 billion people around the world – most of them in the Global South – do not have municipal services to pick up their trash. Without a government-organized waste disposal system, many of these people bury their plastic waste, throw it into rivers or simply burn it.
Uncontrolled burning of plastic has been linked to health problems
Few studies have attempted to capture the plastic that bursts into flames. “We have shown the great importance of open, uncontrolled burning of plastic,” said Velis. Open burning of plastic has been linked to heart disease, respiratory disease and neurological problems. Burning plastic produces particulate matter, which has been shown to cause around 7 million deaths per year. It also releases carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and other toxic chemicals that lead to Krebsbirth defects and lung problems.
Although the United States generates large amounts of plastic waste, the incineration of plastic there is relatively low thanks to the waste disposal system. Although wealthier countries send some of their plastic waste to poorer countries, the researchers did not include these shipments in their analysis. They noted that previous research has shown that this is only 30,000 tonnes of undisposed plastic waste per year.
“This study highlights that uncollected and undisposed plastic waste is the largest contributor to plastic pollution and that prioritizing appropriate waste disposal is critical to ending plastic pollution,” said Chris Jahn, council secretary of the International Council of Chemical Associations, one industry group, in a statement.
Undisposed plastic waste ends up in waterways and the environment
Undisposed plastic waste that is not incinerated and ends up in waterways and the environment could also harm human health. Some harm animals by suffocating them or entering their lungs and tissues, while other waste is broken down by wind, rain and ultraviolet light. As a result, larger pieces of plastic eventually become microplastics, which have been found in the air and in the human body and have dangerous health effects.
Plastic in a sorting plant, where it is decided what of the waste is burned and what is recycled. © Julia Tillmann/Imago
The study comes as nations struggle to agree on the world’s first international plastics agreement, with some countries calling for better waste management and others pushing to limit the amount of plastic a nation can produce.
The researchers hope their study can help negotiators figure out which countries are most responsible for hazardous plastic waste — and how to prevent it from entering the environment or being burned in the first place.
“At this point it is too late,” said Ed Cook, a research fellow at the University of Leeds and co-author of the study. “The solutions to try to tackle waste once it has passed the point of emissions will always be limited. The child has already fallen into the well.”
Rebecca Tan contributed to this report.
To the authors
Shannon Osaka is a climate reporter and covers politics, culture and science for the Washington Post. Before joining the Post, she was a climate reporter at the nonprofit environmental news outlet Grist.
Simon Ducroquet is a climate graphics reporter for The Washington Post. Before joining the Post, Simon worked in the graphics department of Brazilian publications O Globo, Folha de S.Paulo and Nexo Jornal.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on September 7, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com“ was published – as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.
