“Imagining-Other”
Our Responsibility for our
Environment (2)
Plastic pollution – the big picture.
Updates:
Update No.: 1: biodegradability 2: consumer society
3: microplastics in rain
4:
earthworms 5: China
6: Italy
7: bags for life 8: toothpaste tubes
Links:
Talk on plastics: Our Responsibility for
our Environment (2)
1. Biodegradability?
The only
biodegradable plastics are those made from natural polymers, and cellophane –
which are expensive (from notes by UEL student).
The average time that
a plastic bag is used for is … 12 minutes. Then it takes about 20 years to
degrade. (From The Telegraph Jan 2018:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/10/stark-truth-long-plastic-footprint-will-last-planet/
The most durable plastic items,
such as bottles, disposable nappies and beer holders, can take 450 years to
biodegrade - over five times the average life expectancy of a British person. Other commonplace items such as straws can take up
to 200 years to biodegrade and foam plastic cups can take 50 years.
Plastic bags are around for less
time - taking about 20 years to degrade - but their impact on the environment
can be equally as harmful, with plastic bags known to be eaten by a variety of
marine wildlife. Jo Ruxton, a former researcher on
Blue Planet and producer of the A Plastic Ocean film, said single-use items
could float around in the seas for decades causing havoc in the marine eco-system.
She said: “It is estimated that
60 to 70 per cent of the plastic sinks to the bottom [of the ocean]. It gets
brittle as it gets old and breaks into tiny pieces and mixes into the plankton,
which is the heart of the marine food chain. “We are producing far too much
plastic believing it is disposable. It’s not, it’s indestructible.”
2. (23rd
Jan 2020). Problem is amount we consume: (Damian Carrington)
Annually,
humans consume over 100bn tonnes of material, and this is four times what it
was in 1970. In the last 2 years, consumption has gone up by 8%, but re-use has
gone down from 9.1% to 8.6%. Report by the Circle
Economy thinktank (lead author: Marc de Wit,
chief executive: Harald Friedl),
launched at Davos. On average, every person on earth
uses more than 13 tonnes of materials per year.
In 2017 100.6bn tonnes of materials were consumed. Half is sand, clay,
gravel and cement and minerals quarried for fertiliser;
coal oil and gas make up 15%, metal ores 10%. Plants etc used for food and
fuel: 25%. Housing accounts for 40%.
15% is
emitted as climate-heating gases, and nearly a quarter is discarded into the
environment. A third is treated as waste.
13 European
countries have adopted road-maps towards a circular economy. China’s ban on
waste has made other countries such as Australia think about a circular
economy.
5. (20th Jan 2020). China:
From Ecowatch, Olivia Rosane, 20th
Jan 2020.
China, the world's No. 1 producer of plastic
pollution, announced
major plans Sunday to cut back on the sale and production of single-use plastics.
According to the plans put forward
by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology
and Environment, plastic
bags will be
banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in smaller cities and towns by
2022, Reuters
reported. (Markets selling fresh fruits
and vegetables will have until 2025 to phase out the bags).
The
commission said it was enacting the changes in order to protect public health
and "to build a beautiful China," CNN reported.
The plan
targets a variety of plastic types and industries over the next five years, BBC News
reported. Other
measures include:
The plan also calls for the phaseout of plastic takeaway items and shipping packages,
Reuters reported. The government also announced Sunday it would work to create
recycling programs and promote the use of recycled plastics, according to CNN.
"It's the first time Beijing
has recognised single-use plastics as a major problem and specified the urgent
necessity to significantly reduce them," Greenpeace tweeted in response to the announcement.
China did ban retailers from
giving away free plastic bags in 2008, and also banned the production of
ultra-thin bags, BBC News reported.
China is the world's largest
manufacturer of plastic, according to CNN. It is also the world's leading
producer of plastic waste, according to the University
of Oxford's Our World in Data. It produced 60 million tonnes (approximately
66 million U.S. tons) in 2010, followed by the U.S., which produced 38 million
tonnes (approximately 42 U.S. tons). However, on a per capita basis, the
average Chinese person discards one-fourth to one-half of the plastic waste
discarded by the average U.S. resident.
But because China has a much
larger population, the tossing of plastic waste has become a major problem for
its infrastructure and environment, overwhelming its landfills and polluting
its rivers. China's largest dump is around the size of 100 soccer fields and is
already at capacity, 25 years before planned, BBC News reported. And the
Yangtze River dumps more plastic into the oceans than any other river in the world, according to CNN.
Around eight
million metric tons of plastic enter the world's oceans every
year, where they pose a major threat to marine life. China is the leading contributor to the kind of mismanaged
plastic waste that is the most likely to end up in the oceans, generating
around 28 percent of the world's total, according to Our World in Facts. Asia
as a whole is the region that produces the most mismanaged waste, but other
countries in the area are also taking steps to combat the problem. Thailand banned plastic bags at major
stores this year; Bali in
Indonesia banned single-use plastics; and Jakarta, the country's capital, will
ban plastic bags by June 2020, BBC News reported.
Extra notes on China from same
source:
China is the world's largest
manufacturer of plastic, according to CNN. It is also the world's leading
producer of plastic waste, according to the University
of Oxford's Our World in Data.
It produced 60 million tonnes
(approximately 66 million U.S. tons) in 2010, followed by the U.S., which
produced 38 million tonnes (approximately 42 U.S. tons). However, on a per
capita basis, the average Chinese person discards one-fourth to one-half of the
plastic waste discarded by the average U.S. resident.
But because China has a much
larger population, the tossing of plastic waste has become a major problem for
its infrastructure and environment, overwhelming its landfills and polluting its rivers. China's largest dump is around the
size of 100 soccer fields and is already at capacity, 25 years before planned,
BBC News reported. And the Yangtze River dumps more plastic into the oceans than any other river in the world, according to CNN.
Around eight
million metric tons of plastic enter the world's oceans every
year, where they pose a major threat to marine life. China is the leading contributor to the kind of mismanaged
plastic waste that is the most likely to end up in the oceans, generating around
28 percent of the world's total, according to Our World in Facts. Asia as a
whole is the region that produces the most mismanaged waste, but other
countries in the area are also taking steps to combat the problem. Thailand banned plastic bags at major
stores this year; Bali in
Indonesia banned single-use plastics; and Jakarta, the country's capital, will
ban plastic bags by June 2020, BBC News reported.
8. (15th Jan. 2020 Zoe
Wood): Colgate is
launching toothpaste in a recyclable tube. Consumers get through 20bn tubes
every year. New brand is ‘Smile for Good’. Certified by vegan
society as cruelty-free. Made from HDPE (high density polyethylene), the
plastic used in milk bottles. But it is six times as expensive as regular
tubes. Colgate aiming at a circular economy...
Colgate has also said all its packaging will be recyclable by 2025.
3.
(28th Dec 2019 Damian Carrington): Microplastic in the rain:
Four cities have been assessed, and the particles have been
found everywhere especially in London. Research published in Environment
International, led by Stephanie Wright of Kings College London. Problem is, we
don’t know much at all about effects... Collected on rooftops
and deposition rates ranged from 575 to 1,008 pieces per sq metre per day.
15 different types of plastic were identified. Most were acrylic, from e.g.
clothing. London has a rate 7 times higher than Paris and three times Hamburg.
Particles were between 0.02mmand 0.5mm – large enough to reach the airways and
into saliva.
One study says people consume at least 50,000 microplastic
particles a year.
About 335mtonnes of new plastic is produced each year.
6.
27th Dec 2019 Italian ski resort
(Pejo 3000) in Val di Sole, Trentino has banned
plastic after a study found 131m – 162m plastic particles in the surface of one
of the largest glaciers in the Italian Alps. The Pejo
valley has hydroelectric plants and wood-chip heating from local forestry
operations.
Plastic fibres found in creatures at bottom of deepest
trench in the ocean.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/mariana-trench-animals-plastic/
7. (28th Nov 2019 Sandra Laville): more ‘bags for life’ means bigger plastic
footprint for supermarkets:
Research
from Environmental Investigation Agency and Greenpeace shows footprint is
rising. In 2018 supermarkets put out 903,000 tonnes of plastic packaging – an
increase of 17,000 tonnes from 2017. This includes now 1.5bn ‘bags for life’ –
54 per household, a 26% increase (over previous year?). EIA calls for a ban on
them. Some customers are simply getting bags for life as a substitute for
single-use bags.
29th Oct 2019. The store John Lewis has stopped
selling 5p single-use plastic bags at its Oxford store so as to encourage reduce reuse and return. Over a year this could save 5
tonnes of plastic. Sales of 5p bags had fallen by 30% since the charge was
introduced, but they still sold 11.5m last year! Other incentives had been
introduced at the same store (see elsewhere).
14th Oct 2019 – demand for used plastic could
cause recycling costs to soar (Jillian Ambrose): Recycled plastic flakes have
in recent months become more expensive than virgin plastic for the first time.
Report from S & G Global Platts – recycled
plastic costs an extra £57 a tonne. Trend is driven in part by growing demand
for recycled plastic in new products. New plastic is becoming cheaper because
of the US shale boom. Smaller manufacturers may be forced to go back to using
new plastic (harder for large companies to do this). Packaging manufacturers
are under pressure to reduce the amount of new plastic used: Coca Cola aims to
cut the amount in its soft drink bottles by 50% within the next two years. UK
is planning to tax companies that do not use at least 30% recycled plastic in
their products. Experts are calling for govt to support plans to increase the
amount of recycled plastic in the market – e.g. incentives for new recycling
plants, or importing flakes from Latin America.
4. (12th Sep. 2019). Microplastics:
seem to harm earthworms, as their weight suffers a decrease. Worms placed in soil loaded for 30
days with high density polyethylene (HDPE) lost about 3% of their bodyweight,
whereas worms in soil without PDPE gained 5%. Lead author: Bas Roots, Anglia
Ruskin University, in Environmental Science and Technology. Possible
explanation: obstruction or irritation of the digestive tract. The worms
(especially rosy-tipped earthworm, Apporectodea rosea) are vital in agriculture.
European
studies have found anything between 700 and 4,000 plastic particles per
kilogram of soil in some agricultural land.
31st Aug. 2019. M & S to remove glitter from Christmas
cards, wrapping paper calendars and crackers. Aims to be 100% plastic free by
end 2020. Most glitter is made from aluminium bonded to polyethylene terephthalate. Trillions of microplastic particles have
been found in the oceans. M & S have
removed 1,000 tonnes of plastic packaging from its business. Waitrose, Tesco
and Aldi are taking similar action. (Sarah Butler).
June 2019: where has all the plastic
gone?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/23/all-the-plastic-ever-made-study-
June 2019, plastics, recycling &
the global south: https://leftfootforward.org/2019/06/the-war-over-where-your-recyling-goes/
17th May 2019. (Ben Smee) A million shoes among debris on beaches of the Cocos (Keeling ) Islands (popn. 600):
There were
414m pieces of plastic, weighing 238 tonnes. Published in Nature, marine
scientists found 977,000 shoes and 373,000 toothbrushes on these Indian Ocean
islands. The islands are Australian, and 800 miles south-west of Jakarta.
It is now
estimated there are 5.25tn pieces of ocean plastic debris, says Annett Finger
from Victoria University and co-author of the report..
There is an
exponential increase in plastic pollution. Much of the waste was buried and
previous surveys may have underestimated quantities if they only took the
surface waste into account.
13th April 2019. Letters
from: Maddy Haughton-Boakes,
Campaign to Protect Rural England, Richard Ali, Paper Cup Alliance.
The deposit
charge on carrier bags has been shown to work, since these now comprise only 1%
of the pollution. There should be a deposit return system for all drinks
containers – the producers should be liable for the costs of dealing with
packaging.
The
polyethylene coating on paper cups can be ‘easily separated from the paper
using water. There are five cup recycling plants across the UK that are already
doing this and have the capacity to recycle all paper cups in the UK...’
Glasgow, Leeds and Cardiff are showing cup collection initiatives. ‘Used paper
cups are accepted at Costa, Nero, Greggs, Starbucks and McDonald’s and there
are now 4,500 high-street collection points and over 20 waste management
companies supporting paper cup collection schemes.’
17th April 2019. Letter from Michael Stephen, Oxo-biodegradable
Plastics Association.
There is a
way of making plastic more biodegradable, so it decays more quickly and can be
recycled into nature by naturally occurring bacteria. Oxo-biodegradation
is required by law in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan. It creates no
toxicity.
17th April 2019, Jonathan
Watts: history of plastic pollution:
A plankton sampling
device – collecting pelagic plankton which indicates water quality as well as
being a source of food for marine life – has been operating for the past
century, and also recorded problems when its work was disrupted by plastic...
Strands of fishing twine were first found off the coast of Iceland in 1957,
then a plastic bag in 1965. During the three decades from the ‘50s less than 1%
of tows were disrupted, by the 1990s it was 2% and now it is between 3% and 4%.
The device
was towed at a depth of about 7 metres, which is where many fish and marine
mammals are found, and it covered a very wide range of oceans – the worst was
the southern North Sea.
Since 2004
it has also been sampling for microplastics and has shown a big rise from 1960
– 1990.
Government
cuts in the 1980s nearly led to the project stopping, but scientists kept it
going and modernised its procedures.
A proposal from SumOfUs.org
The Basel Convention is a legally
binding agreement on cross-border waste disposal signed by almost every country
in the world, including the European Union. With one small tweak, proposed by
Norway, countries exporting their plastic rubbish would have to get the prior
informed consent of the country receiving it -- so developing countries can
keep shiploads of plastic pollution from landing on their shores.
But getting all 190 governments on board by May
will be no easy task, especially with plastic industry lobbyists desperate to
keep the status quo. That’s why we need this campaign right
now.
https://www.ciel.org/plastic-waste-proposal-basel-convention/
8th April 2019. (Fiona
Harvey) According to the Plastic Rivers report, from Earthwatch
Europe and Plastic Oceans UK:
Plastic
bottles are the most prevalent form of plastic pollution, followed by food
wrappers and then cigarette butts. Plastic bags only comprise 1%, showing the
bans etc have had an impact. About 80% of plastic rubbish flows into the oceans
from rivers. We need to focus on cleaning up rivers, some say, while we deal
with our dependence on throwaway plastic. The report looked at macroplastic in fresh water, and excluded fishing gear
(which RSPCA says kills birdlife). It also excluded items from farming and
industry, to concentrate on consumers’ contributions.
8th April 2019.Links to Greenpeace action on
plastics, especially with reference to Sainsbury’s:
April 2019: Global
Citizen: UN Global
Goals.
Plastic waste is a scourge on the natural
environment, and innovation is absolutely key when it
comes to ensuring we dispose of our waste sustainably. The UN’s Global Goals include
calls to protect life on land and life below water (Goal No. 14 and 15), and to
create cities and communities that are sustainable (Goal No.11). Join the
movement by taking action here to support the Global
Goals.
Tesco supermarket has launched a
trial for an innovative recycling scheme specifically focusing on plastics that
can’t be recycled on the kerb. Soft plastics like crisp packets, plastic
bags, and pet food pouches generally can’t be recycled by local authorities —
blocking efforts to hit 100% recycling rates. But the supermarket has now partnered with Swindon-based recycling
specialist Recycling Technologies to help tackle the problem. From this
week, according to Tuesday's announcement, Tesco is actively encouraging
shoppers to bring their non-recyclable plastics to collection points at 10
stores across Swindon and Bristol.
And if the trial goes well, the
initiative could be rolled out across the whole of the UK. The plan is
basically to create a closed loop for plastic production. The soft plastics
returned to the store will be converted back into oil by Recycling
Technologies, and then that oil can be used in the production of new plastics. According to Sarah Bradbury, Tesco’s director
of quality, the technology “could be the final piece of the jigsaw for the UK
plastic recycling industry.” Bradbury added that the initiative will help
the store reach its target to have all of its packaging 100% recyclable by
2025.
And environmental campaigners are
on board with the initiative too. Paula Chin, WWF UK’s sustainable
materials specialist, said: “It’s great to see Tesco
running this innovative trial, looking for new ways to make it easier for
customers to recycle plastic materials which would usually go in their waste
bins.” She added: “While we can all do our bit by reducing the plastic we buy
and embracing reusable items, we need producers, businesses, and governments to
face their responsibilities too.”
The stores involved in the trial
are: Bristol Lime Trees Road Superstore, Yate Extra,
Bristol Brislington Extra, Bristol Staple Hill Metro,
Keynsham Superstore, Bristol East Extra, Cirencester
Metro — Farrell Close, Cirencester Extra, Swindon Extra, and Tetbury Superstore.
The announcement is a step in the
right direction for achieving the goals set out in the UK Plastics Pact — signed by dozens of
companies in the UK in April 2018 to help crack down on plastic
pollution. Tesco was one of the supermarkets that signed, along with Aldi, Asda, Lidl,
Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, and Waitrose. In fact, combined,
those that signed the pact are responsible for some 80% of the plastic packing on products sold in UK
supermarkets. And one of the four targets outlined in the pact is to make
100% of plastic packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
According to the most
recent government data, from 2017, the UK recycling rate for waste from households is
about 46% — still short of the EU target to recycle at least 50% of household
waste by 2020. For packaging waste specifically, plastic
falls far short of most other recyclable materials. In 2017, according
to the data, about 46% of plastic packaging
was recycled; compared to 71% of metal, 79% of paper, and 67% of glass.
But while individuals and local
authorities can also play their part in making sure we dispose of our waste sustainably,
there is also an ongoing call from campaigners for supermarkets and other
businesses to take greater responsibility for disposing of the plastic waste
they’re putting into the market. Supermarkets in the UK currently pay less
towards the proper collection and disposal of plastic waste that in any other
country in the EU, according to a 2018 Guardian report. Instead, taxpayers pay
90% of the total cost. The plastic pact, and the actions that are coming
as a result, is great — but campaigners have also consistently said that
voluntary action isn’t enough, and that we need legal enforcements in place to
hold businesses accountable to their pledges.
Julian Kirby, from Friends of the
Earth, said of the pact that it must be “accompanied by
government measures to ensure that everyone plays their part and these targets
are actually met.
1. Since the 1950s, around 8.3 billion tons of
plastic have been produced worldwide.
2. In some parts of
the world, using plastic is already illegal.
3. 73% of beach
litter worldwide is plastic.
4. A million plastic
bottles are bought around the world every minute.
5. Worldwide, about
2 million plastic bags are used every minute.
6. 90% of plastic
polluting our oceans is carried by just 10 rivers.
7. Plastic is killing
more than 1.1 million seabirds and animals every year.
8. The average
person eats 70,000 microplastics each year.
9. The average
time that a plastic bag is used for is … 12 minutes. (Then it takes up to a
thousand years to decompose!)
10. Over the past 50
years, world plastic production has doubled.
22nd Nov 2018. Sandra Laville. Microplastic comes from tyres
and synthetic clothing, according to FoE. Between 9 and 32 thousand tonnes of
microplastic enters waterways each year from just four sources: tyre abrasion
accounts for 7-19,000 tonnes. Clothing creates up to 2,900 tonnes – two thirds
of clothing is made from synthetic material, according to a report by Eunomia. 26,000
tonnes of large plastic waste enters waterways each year. Up to 5,900 tonnes of
plastic pellets used in manufacturing, and between 1,400 and 3,700 tonnes of
paint are lost to surface waters each year. FoE recommends a standardised test
to measure tyre tread abrasion rates, and a car tyre levy to pay for research
into solutions and mitigation measures.
21st Nov 2018. Dead whale had 1,000 plastic items in
its stomach. AP
It was washed up in eastern
Indonesia. Plastic included flip-flops, 115 drinking cups according to staff
from Wakatobi national park. It was a 9.5 metre sperm
whale. The plastic weighed 5.9 kg. Indonesia is the world’s second-largest
plastic polluter after China according to an article in Science (Jan 2018) – it
produces 3.2m tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste a year, of which 1.29m tonnes
ends up in the ocean.
19th Oct 2018. Sandra Laville.
The plastics
recycling industry is facing an investigation into suspected widespread abuse
and fraud within the export system amid warnings the world is about to close
the door on UK packaging waste, the Guardian has learned.
The Environment Agency (EA) has set up a team of investigators,
including three retired police officers, in an attempt to deal with complaints
that organised criminals and firms are abusing the system.
Six UK exporters of plastic waste
have had their licences suspended or cancelled in the last three months,
according to EA data. One firm has had 57 containers of plastic waste stopped
at UK ports in the last three years due to concerns over contamination of
waste.
Allegations that the agency is
understood to be investigating include:
·
Exporters are falsely claiming for tens of thousands of tonnes of
plastic waste which might not exist
·
UK plastic waste is not being recycled and is being left to leak
into rivers and oceans
·
Illegal shipments of plastic waste are being routed to the Far
East via the Netherlands
·
UK firms with serial offences of shipping contaminated waste are
being allowed to continue exporting.
UK households and businesses used 11m tonnes of packaging last
year, according
to government figures. Two-thirds of our
plastic packaging waste is exported by an export industry which was worth more
than £50m last year.
The
exporters make millions by charging retailers and manufacturers a fluctuating
tonnage rate for plastic waste recovery notes – currently £60 a tonne.
Retailers buy these plastic export recovery notes – Perns
– to satisfy the government they are contributing something to recycling
plastic packaging waste. But the system – which was heavily criticised as open
to fraud and abuse by the National Audit Office this summer – relies on
companies making self declarations about how much packaging they are exporting.
The Guardian
understands information has been passed to the EA – the regulators – which
shows huge discrepancies between the amount of packaging exports recorded by HM
customs, compared to the amount UK exporters claim to have shipped. The data,
analysed by the Guardian, reveals British
export firms claim to have shipped abroad 35,135 tonnes more plastic than HM
Customs has recorded leaving the country.
One source with knowledge of the
inquiry said: “In the last few months the customs figures on waste plastic are
lower than the figures given to the Environment Agency by the exporters –
suggesting more people are shipping stuff they claim is waste plastic in order
to get the Pern price. “Perns
are running at around £60-70 a tonne, so that encourages all sorts of people to
pursue the export market, and the question is whether the enforcement is strong
enough to detect whether this is actually plastic waste being shipped out.”
At least 100 containers of plastic waste a day are shipped out
from ports including Felixstowe and Southampton to Europe and the Far East. Insiders said EA staff have never visited any of the countries or sites where
British waste plastic is exported for recycling.
Jacob Hayler,
executive director of the Environmental Services Association (ESA), is one of
many individuals who has raised the issue of the discrepancy in figures with
the EA. “We have flagged this and they are aware of it,” he said. ‘The agency
and others are looking at how to improve enforcement … there is organised
crime, and criminal gangs exploit the system, that does go on.”
The ongoing investigation into
corruption in the plastics industry comes as the UK seeks new international
markets for its plastic waste. In January,
China stopped accepting British plastic waste and exports shifted to Malaysia,
Vietnam and Poland. But Malaysia and Vietnam have imposed temporary bans on
imports and Poland
is considering restrictions, a sign that countries are growing
more wary amid evidence of high contamination rates.
Figures seen
by the Guardian show UK exports to Turkey and the Netherlands soaring as a
result. Several
insiders told the Guardian the export market – which the UK relies on as it
struggles to meet a target to reprocess more than half its plastic waste by
2020 – could dry up within weeks. Phil Conran,
director 360 Environmental and chair of the government’s advisory committee on
packaging, said: “All these markets are effectively closing the door to the
poor quality material and they are increasingly limited in what they will
accept of the better quality material. “At the moment material is still being
collected and still going somewhere ... but all the sense is that we have
reached a tipping point and we simply are struggling to find markets for
material that is being collected.”
The new markets have brought more
fears of abuse within the system. According to packaging declarations made by
companies, the UK exported 27,034 tonnes of waste plastic to Turkey in the
first three months of this year compared to 12,022 tonnes in the first three
months of 2017. Netherlands exports have risen by nearly 10,000 tonnes in the
first six months of this year, compared to the same period in 2016; 38,207
tonnes in 2018 compared to 28,784 in 2016.
The EA has been passed allegations that export firms are using the
Netherlands to effectively launder plastic waste – exploiting looser controls
over shipments to Europe – before illegally moving it out to other countries in
the Far East, where they might struggle to get approval under the UK licence
system.
Addie van der
Spapen, of Netherlands recycling firm Kunststof Recycling, said the country certainly did
not have the capacity to reprocess increased amounts of plastic waste from the
UK. “It won’t all get recycled. Europe is getting overflowed with the material
from England, they are flooding Europe with their plastic,” he said. The
growing market in Turkey is also raising fears that more UK plastic waste will
leak into the oceans. One source said: “The concern about Turkey is more
whether material is being stored to be recycled later, or not recycled at all
and being burnt.”
An inquiry by the
National Audit Office [pdf] earlier this year criticised the lack of rigour by the
EA and the Government. “The financial incentive for companies to fraudulently
claim they have recycled plastic packaging is higher than for any other
material,” they said. “There is therefore a risk that some of it is not
recycled under equivalent standards to the UK and is instead sent to landfill
or contributes to pollution.” Marie Fallon, of the Environment Agency, has
confirmed to MPs an intelligence led central
investigations team has been set up to tackle corruption and fraud within the
export system. Fallon accepted the agency could have done better over the years
in tackling abuses. In 2016-17 staff carried out fewer than 40 pc of 346 spot
checks on companies it had planned. This year five export firms flagged as red
rated for risk are still operating and 33 considered to be of medium risk are
also still accredited to export waste.
Hundreds of people who protect
biodiversity and enforce environmental regulations in the UK have been
redeployed to work on Brexit. The raid on staff from the Environment Agency, which is responsible for
enforcing rules on recycling, air pollution and protecting the country from
flooding, and Natural England, which protects habitats and species, has been
condemned by MPs.
Mary Creagh,
chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, on Thursday published a letter from
the environment secretary, Michael Gove, which reveals 400 staff have been moved
from these agencies to work centrally on Brexit. The staff moves come as the
Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) rushes to prepare for a no-deal Brexit, which will have a particular
impact on dairy and chemical exports. Gove’s letter says some of the
enforcement and protection work the staff do will be reallocated or paused for
now, raising fears that vulnerable habitats and species are being left
unprotected because of the chaos over Brexit.
“Preparations for leaving the EU
must not get in the way of protecting our treasured natural spaces and iconic
British wildlife,” said Creagh.
The Guardian revealed recently
how overstretched Environment Agency staff were attempting to
investigate widespread abuse and corruption [see above] within the plastic recycling
export market. The agency has lost a large number of staff between 2010 and
2018. Sources told the Guardian,
enforcement work on plastic recycling had to be put on hold due to staff shortages
even before the raid by Defra.
Creagh raised concerns in September
over the vulnerability of England’s sites of special scientific interest
(SSSIs). The agency has revealed that over two years the number of
SSSIs which are in an unfavourable condition has increased.
23rd Oct 2018,
microplastics in human stools.
Particles
have been found in the stools of eight people from Europe, Japan and Russia. Up
to 9 different plastics were found out of 10 varieties tested for. Most common
were polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate
were the most common. On average, 20 particles per 10g were found.
Microplastics are defined as particles of less than 5mm. The authors estimate
that more than 50% of the world’s population might have microplastics in their
stools.
Tests were
carried out by the Environment Agency Austria, led by a medical researcher from
University of Vienna.
Previous studies
have found microplastics in the gut of fish, and in tap water and in flying
insects. In Italy a recent investigation found them in soft drinks. In birds
they damage the small intestine, disrupt iron absorption and stress the liver.
Nothing is known about the impact on human health.
14th Sep 2018, Daniel Boffey: a bicycle path has been made of recycled plastic.
In the
Netherlands a 30-metre path made from 218,000 recycled plastic cups has opened
in Zwolle (in the north-east) as part of a trial. It is expected to be three
times as durable as asphalt. The venture has been carried out by engineers KWS,
Total (oil and gas), and Wavin (pipemaker).
Other places including Rotterdam may take up the technology. The path is made
in prefabricated sections which are light and hollow, and easy to transport;
cables and pipes can easily be fitted inside and it is designed to drain off
rainwater. It is seen as sustainable...
Asphalt is
responsible for 1.5m tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, which is 2% of global road
transport emissions.
The EU has
proposed that all plastic should be reusable or recyclable by 2030. Some opponents argue that wear and run-off
will produce microplastic particles.
26th January 2018. Damian Carrington. Plastic has been
found to cause disease in coral reefs.
89% of the corals examined that were fouled by plastic were found to be
diseased. Scientists examined 125,000 corals across the Asia-Pacific region. At
least 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the ocean every year. Corals
are not only home to a diverse range of life, but they are vital for at least
275 million people who depend on them for food, coastal protection from storms,
and income from tourism. Plastic was found on a third of the reefs examined
between 2011 and 2014. They did not assess microplastics... Diseases found
include: skeletal eroding band disease, white syndromes and black band disease.
These diseases spread across a colony once there is infection. Plastic cuts the
living creatures in the coral, and blocks out sunlight. Plastic pollution is
estimated as likely to increase to 16bn pieces by 2025 (an increase of 40%)
unless action is taken. Repeated bleaching is now the ‘new normal’ according to
Prof Terry Hughes of James Cook University’s centre for coral reef studies.