Something is missing when ocean plastic pollution is debated: Companies.
News about ocean plastic pollution mostly concentrate on four issues:
1. Millions of tons entering the oceans.
2. Collection of plastics on beaches.
3. Ban on single-use plastics.
4. How to reduce the use of plastic and plastic wrapping.
All of this is crucial to save life in the oceans.
Why?
The global plastics production is expected to quadruple by 2050. In fact, it will require 20 per cent of the worlds oil production if this trend continues. Plastic production is 20 times higher today than it was in 1964. In 2016 the global production was 335 million tons of plastic which means 1,340 tons in 2050. Eight million tons, probably a lot more, enter the oceans every year.
Companies
What about those producing the plastic? I want to know more about solutions from that end. What do companies foresee? And how can they make money on ocean plastics?
Dell, General Motors and several others aim to recycle plastics into their products before it enters the oceans. The consortium members will also make products from ocean plastics.
First step is to collect plastics from Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. The non-profit organization Ocean Conservancy found that half of all ocean plastics originate from these countries. One of the challenges the study points out is the lack of infrastructure for recycling and collection.
Establishing delivery facilities where local organizations can bring plastic is one proposal. The plastic is milled and companies like Dell buys it for packaging. General Motors is planning to use recycled plastics in both packaging and car parts.
Plastic carpets and bags
Several products have seen the light of day as a result of the consortium.
Bottle cage from Chilean fishing nets, payment cards and backpacks. Computers from plastic bottles in Haiti, bags, cushion covers and table cloths, office chairs, PC-bags, and carpets from fishing gear from Cameroon, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Toy giant Lego is probably feeling the pressure to do something about their dependency on plastics. Their products are made of 100 per cent plastics. If they don’t act, they are out of business.
In March 2018, Lego announced that all botanic Lego pieces like leaves and trees should be made from organic plastic. And by 2030 all standard pieces and packaging will be made from sustainable material.
Also read: Ocean plastic gadget works
Much more plastics than anticipated
A study published in Nature March 2018 found four to sixteen times more plastics in the oceans than previously estimated.
The researchers studied the subtropic Ocean Pacific between California and Hawaii, also known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The study suggests that the amount of plastics entering the oceans therefore is much higher than the much used figure of 8 million tons.
Early attempts to find out the amount of plastics in the oceans were based on estimates on the lack of garbage management. But such methods do not document where the plastics originate.
Also read: Plastic on the radar
The post-plastic society
The solutions for the post-plastic society is still years in the future, according to the authors of «The future of plastics recycling» published in Science in november last year. They state that the effects of recycling will be limited even with economic and environmental incentives. Sorting plastics before it is recycled is costly and time consuming. It is energy intensive and the end product has low quality. Today’s technology does not effectively manage all the different types of plastics. New research points to better use of chemical recycling methods using less energy and that plastics of different types can be mixed to avoid sorting.»
To what extent the industry itself actually is pushing the agenda is also a question. Plastics should be phased out altogether, according to some critics. Recycling is just a way for the oil industry to continue its business.
Cover photo from HPs site promoting their PCs produced with ocean plastics.
11/10/2020