INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON GLOBAL ISSUES 2019
102
Plastic Pollution. How Serious this Problem?
Nurul Najwa binti Napatah*a, Tan Pei Jiab, Noor Shuhaila binti Halim c, Sofea Cheah binti Azlan d, Muhammed Fauzi bin Othmane
*Corresponding Author Email: [email protected] Abstract
Plastic is a miracle material. The existence of plastic make countless lives have been saved in the health sector, the growth of clean energy from wind turbines and solar panels has been greatly facilitated, and safe food storage has been revolutionized. However, with the ingredients that made up plastic and the fact that it is very light weight and cheap, make it ubiquitous resulting become the earth biggest environmental challenges. Plastic waste is an emerging contaminant and do not readily biodegrade but persist in the aquatic environment for long periods. Thus, plastic pollution is now one of the global pressing problem. Plastic pollution results from a highly heterogeneous mixture of litter types differing in origin, size and shape and polymer type. Some of the most numerous items are discarded single- use packaging together with rope, netting and sewage-related debris. The majority of this litter originates from mismanaged plastic where plastic are dumped openly at the land and enter the environment via inland waterways, wastewater outflows, and transport by wind or tides with rivers providing an important pathway to the sea. A comprehensive literature review in this study was focus on the uses of plastic and the impacts of plastic pollution and reviewing an international and Asia case study as an example of this problems. Therefore, this study seek proactive solutions for this problem that could possibly adapted by benchmarking a successful stories of another countries in coping this problem. A desk study through reviewing secondary data such as website, blogs, reports and academic journal are use a method for this study. As a result, there are several measures and actions were identified that could possibly take to reduce threats and risks of plastic waste and plastic pollution.
Keywords: Plastic; Pollution; environment; litter; global crisis; marine litter 1 Introduction
Plastics is the term commonly used to describe a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that are used in a huge and growing range of applications. The term ‘’plastic’’ is derived from the Greek word ''plastikos'' which means it fit for moulding. This refers to the material’s malleability, or plasticity during manufacture which allows it to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much.
Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass and they often contain other substances. Plastic is a highly useful material and its applications are expected to increase as more new products and plastics are developed to meet demands. In the last 60 years, plastic has become a useful and versatile material. Its uses are likely to increase with ongoing developments in the plastic industry. Single-use plastics often also referred to as disposable plastics that are commonly used for plastic packaging and include items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled. These include, among other items, grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups and cutlery.
Since the 1950s, the production of plastic has outpaced that of almost every other material. Plastics becoming ubiquitous across almost all facets of the economy. With its ever-expanding applications, plastics have delivered many benefits for society. Plastic packaged food lasts longer and it could reducing wastage. Use of plastic in pipes facilitates clean drinking water supplies, while plastic enables life-saving medical devices such as surgical equipment and drips.
Apart from that, due to its light weight, plastic use in vehicles has reduced carbon dioxide emissions from transport (Andrady & Neal, 2009). As demand for materials with certain qualities increases, the plastics industry aimed to supply them.
2 Literature Review 2.1 Plastic Consumption
In 2017, the global production of plastics reached 348 million metric tons, with 64 million metric tons produced in Europe alone. China is one of the largest producers of plastics in the world, accounting for more than one quarter of the global production. Production of plastics in China will continue to develop and include more efficient companies that produce higher quality plastics.
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON GLOBAL ISSUES 2019
103 Figure 1. Production of plastics worldwide from 1950 to 2017 (in million metric tons), Source: Plastic Europe, 2017
Global consumption of plastic can be estimated by observing the amount of plastic waste produced. Much of the plastics’ produce is designed to be thrown away after being used only once. About 50 per cent of plastic is used for single-use disposable applications, such as packaging, agricultural films and disposable consumer items (Hopewell et al., 2009). Plastic packaging is mostly single-use, especially in business-to-consumer applications, and a majority of it is discarded the same year it is produced (UN Environment Report, 2018). As a result, plastic packaging accounts for about half of the plastic waste in the world. Most of this waste is generated in Asia, while America, Japan and the European Union are the world’s largest producers of plastic packaging waste per capita.
Increasing plastic production and consumption in emerging economies looks set to continue and waste management infrastructure supposed to develop accordingly. The increased consumption and production of plastic in developing and emerging countries is a particular concern as the sophistication of their waste management infrastructure may not be developing at an appropriate rate to deal with their increasing levels of plastic waste. As a result, mismanagement of plastic contributed to the plastic pollutions.
2.2 Plastic Pollution
According to the United Nation Environment (2017), at the end of plastic’s lifetime, a product or packaging is recycled, incinerated, landfilled, dumped in uncontrolled sites, or littered in the environment. It is estimated that 79%
of the plastic waste ever produced now sits in landfills, dumps or in the environment, while about 12% has been incinerated and only 9% has been recycled. If current consumption patterns and waste management practices do not improve, by 2050 there will be about 12 billion tons of plastic litter in landfills and the natural environment. According to what is currently the only available estimate, 80% of plastic pollution originates from land-based sources with the remainder coming from ocean-based sources. There are some of the causes of plastic pollution from land and marine;
I. Plastic is Used Almost Everywhere
Plastic are the most affordable and easily available items in the current world. Plastics are cheap and easy to make and are equally durable. They also get discarded easily. These qualities are the ones making plastics a huge pollution menace. Plastics are used as packaging materials, in home utilities, plastic bottles, straws, plastic paper bags, cans, and many more. Plastic took forever to dispose and it take hundreds of years to decompose and it continued stay in the environment which contributed to the great harm. Disposing plastic through burning process polluted the air while if it been disposed in the landfills it causes land pollution and dumping plastic into the river it pollutes the waters which eventually leading to other secondary impacts.
II. Urbanization and Population Growth
Increasing urbanization and population growth rate is considerably accountable for plastic pollution.
With the increase of population and urban growth, the demand for cheaper and readily available
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON GLOBAL ISSUES 2019
104 materials increases. In the first decade of the century, for instance, more plastics have been made compared to the previous years due to rapid urbanization and rising consumer demands. In most urban areas, plastics form the greater part of the landfills and constitute about 80% of all the municipal waste.
III. Reckless Disposal
Lifestyle of certain people on disposing the household waste also contributed to this problem. There are many countries that still do not manage their solid wastes properly and rely on open dumps for the disposal of their wastes. In some nations without formal waste disposal services, rivers are sometimes used to dispose of waste. For example, developing countries still have a number of issues that need to be resolved related to solid waste management. Household wastes are not managed properly.
Everything will just dump into one plastic garbage instead of separating them into recyclable items and non-recyclable items like what most developed country like Korea and Japan did. Thus, this is the culture that has increasingly worsened plastic pollution because eventually it ends up disposed somewhere in the bins and on the roadsides or aimlessly discarded in the landfills. Waste can also escape whilst being collected or transported if waste management procedures are inadequate.
IV. Marine Shipping and Fishing Industry
The shipping and fishing industry also contribute to plastic pollution, especially in the oceans. Remote rural beaches tend to have plastic rubbish washed to the shows which come from the ships, sea accidents, and from the nets used for fishing which is usually made of plastic. For example, cargo ships may discharge litter into the ocean by accident. In addition, litter can accidentally be released into the ocean during any type of operation at sea. Fisherman boats also may accidentally lose or deliberately dump fishing equipment such as nets, lines and rope into the ocean.
As the use of plastic in modern society has increased, so too have the environmental impacts associated with its production and disposal. Trucost research for UNEP in 2014 highlighted the environmental costs of plastic use in consumer products, including emissions of greenhouse gases, air, land and water pollutants, depletion of water and the production of marine debris in the global oceans (UNEP, 2014). A key example is the mobile phone, its plastic components contain several toxic substances (Nnorom & Osibanjo, 2009). Although these substances are not at levels to cause immediate risk, if quantities increase and end-of-life management is inadequate such as the open burning often practiced in developing countries, there is potential for environmental pollution and human health impacts.
These environmental costs have prompted some to argue that plastics should be replaced with alternative materials, which may present fewer environmental challenges. However, recent studies by Franklin Associates (2013) and Denkstatt (2011), which modeled the substitution of plastic with alternative materials such as paper, steel, aluminum and glass, suggest that a move away from plastics may come at an even higher net environmental cost.
2.3 Impacts of Plastic Pollution
Plastics degrade very slowly in nature because of their intermolecular bonds some plastics may persist in the environment for thousands of years. Because of the low density they also tend to float in water. Hence plastic discarded in watershed areas, which invariably all areas of human settlement are, get collected in the rain water sewers. Sometimes due to prolonged intervals of retrieval, they choke these rainwater outlets. The uses of thinner plastic bags have increased the risk of sewer blockages. In China and Bangladesh, it has been the reason for exacerbated flooding during the rainy season. However more often these hardy plastic discards find their way into the rivers and from there to the seas. Plastic pollution mainly in the ocean can have a wide range of environmental, social and economic impacts.
I. Environmental Impact to the Marine Life
The global oceans are critical to sustaining the Earth’s natural life support systems. They contribute to the livelihoods, culture and well-being of communities around the world, and play a vital role in the global economy where it provide food and a source of income for millions of people. Yet, with a fast-growing world population, the production of waste continues to increase faster than the efforts mitigate its impact on the oceans. More mismanaged waste means more marine litter, and it has been estimated that 80% of marine debris originates from land-based sources (Jambeck et al, 2015) with the remaining 20% originating from ocean-based sources (Allsopp et al, n.d.). Thus, plastics are a major source of global marine pollution. Once plastic particles reach the marine environment, wind and global ocean currents can spread them around the world. As a result, plastics are dispersed across all oceans, and can be
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON GLOBAL ISSUES 2019
105 found in remote locations such as the Arctic, Southern Ocean and deep oceans. Ocean plastic pollution is an alarming issue due to its persistence, complexity, steady growth and the pervasive impacts it has on all aspects of ecosystems.
Cumulatively, plastic wastes have profoundly affected animals in aquatic, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems.
Ocean plastic pollution places additional pressure on ocean ecosystems that are already severely strained by the impacts of human action. These existing stresses include acidification and warming due to carbon dioxide emissions, overfishing, and pollution by heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants. While the complete scale, extent and spatial distribution of the environmental impact of plastic is unknown, there is clear evidence from field- and laboratory-work that plastic debris threatens marine life and ecosystems in a variety of ways:
a. Ingestion
According to the United Nations Environment (2017), the ingestion of plastic litter has been reported to date in over 250 marine species. The animals in the ocean such as whale and turtle always mistakes the plastic as their food and ingest them and make the animal feel full. The main impacts of ingestion include physical damage or blockage of the intestinal tract, which can lead to infection, starvation and potentially death, reproductive and other health disorders due to the uptake of contaminated plastic fragments into the marine food chain and energy effects resulting from carrying around the additional weight of ingested plastic mainly in seabirds
b. Entanglement and ghost fishing
Entanglement in nets, ropes and other debris can be fatal to marine animals. Abandoned fishing gear can continue to ‘ghost fish’ for long periods of time while in the marine environment.
c. Transport of non-native and invasive species
Floating litter can act as a vector for the transport of species, with slow travel rates providing time for species to adapt to the changing environmental conditions. The introduction of nonnative species through this transport mechanism can have detrimental effects on marine species diversity. The scientific literature shows that the environmental impacts of plastic pollution tend to be largest in regions where the ecosystems are most complex and the species diversity and abundance is greatest.
These regions tend to be near coastlines, in the high latitudes, and along the Equator. Hence, with the existence of this invasive species, it killed a huge numbers of ocean life.
II. Social impacts of Plastic Pollution
Coastal areas, beaches and oceans are often used by recreational users for swimming, diving and a number of water sports. Plastic pollution could discourage such users from visiting affected areas and the coast area would loss its aesthetic value as coast littered with plastic does not look as pretty and welcoming as a pristine beach.
III. Economic Impacts of Plastic Pollution
Many of economic impacts relate to lost or reduced revenue. In particular, there are lost revenues associated with a decline in tourism and losses to fisheries and aquaculture. Some countries or area that are really dependence on tourism as local community economic generation would feel a huge impacts as the places are sources of their income. In addition, the broader shipping industry may see reductions in revenues due to vessel damage and downtime, removal and management in harbors and marinas, and emergency rescue operations to vessels affected by marine litter. There is also a range of direct costs associated with plastic waste, such as the clean-up costs associated with removing litter from beaches. Local authorities, community groups, civil society organizations and individual landowners often incur these costs. As the waste becomes more widespread, the cost of clearing up might be paid by a range of different groups. There are other direct costs also incurred by the fishing industry, where damage occurs to property and equipment.
2.4 International Case Study of Pacific Ocean I. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
In 2010, the global primary production of plastic was 270 million tonnes and the global plastic waste was 275 million tonnes which can exceed annual primary production through wastage of plastic from prior years (Ritchie &
Roser, 2018). The five biggest ocean garbage patches are located across the globe, found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. While the North Pacific patch (also known as Great Pacific garbage patch) is the most discussed, explored, and evaluated, the other four patches also contribute to global pollution on a major scale.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s oceans (Lebreton et al., 2018). It is located halfway between Hawaii and California and growing rapidly.
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON GLOBAL ISSUES 2019
106 According to Lebreton et al. (2018), the Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains at least 79,000 tons discarded plastic, covering an area of about 617,800 square miles (1.6 million square kilometers). That is three times the area of France and more than twice the size of Texas. The mass of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) was estimated to be approximately 80,000 tonnes, which is 4-16 times more than previous calculations (Lebreton et al., 2018). This weight is also equivalent to that of 500 Jumbo Jets.
A total of 1.8 trillion plastic pieces were estimated to be floating in the patch. A plastic count that is equivalent to 250 pieces of debris for every human in the world. According to Ritchie & Roser (2018), around 52% of plastics originated from fishing activity and included fishing lines, nets and ropes; a further 47% was sourced from hard plastics, sheets and films; and the remaining components were small in comparison (˂ 1%). The dominance of fishing lines, nets, hard plastics and films means that most of the mass in the GPGP had a large particle size (meso- and macroplastics).
II. Impact of plastic waste towards Pacific Ocean
According to The Associated Press (2012), there are 267 species of marine life such as sea turtles, seabird and whale were being affected by the plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean. The marine animal was entangled by the plastic string or fishing net, and turned up in died. There were 100,000 marine mammals could die trash-related deaths each year. The fish inside the ocean also mistook plastic as their food source. According to Pipkin (2018), the invasive species are riding on plastic across the oceans. There are some examples showed that the crustaceans and mollusks foreign to United States have survived up to six years riding on ocean trash. The spreading of invasive species has occurred in GPGP and had bring adverse impacts towards the host communities at that area. The invasive species that riding on the plastic waste in GPGP is Halobates sericeus, one of the species of sea skaters, also known as sea spider.
III. Non-governmental organizations (NGO) action in GPGP
The Ocean Cleanup has developed advanced technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic. They estimated to clean up 50 % of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch every 5 years. After the feasibility study for plastic waste in ocean, they had conducted several expeditions in 2015 and 2016. For examples, the vertical distribution and mega expedition in 2015 was conducted by removing the plastic waste from the ocean until depth of 5 meters below surface level. The fleet returned with over 1.2 million plastic samples that rendered an unprecedented amount of plastic measurements from the three months of study. In 2016, aerial expedition is conducted to study large plastic pieces and covered larger area. The Ocean Cleanup surveyed 311 km² with advanced sensors and an RGB camera (CS-4800i) that captured one photo every second of flight time by using a C-130 Hercules aircraft. In 2018, The World's First Ocean Cleanup System was launched on September 8, 2018 from San Francisco. System 001 intends to prove the concept of The Ocean Cleanup's technology in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The passive systems are estimated to remove half the Great Pacific Garbage patch in just five years, and at a fraction of the cost.
2.5 Asia Case Study of China
Throughout its rise to economic prominence, China has manufactured and exported a huge number of plastic products to eventually become the world’s largest plastic producer in 2013 (Brooks et al., 2018). Recently, China's domestic plastic consumption has also increased. As a result of this production and poor internal management, China is also leading the world in terms of plastic waste. China is responsible for an estimated 28% of the plastic contributed to our oceans (The Collective, 2015). With another 300 million urban residents expected by 2025 and growing rates of consumption, it is vital that China acts to more efficiently deal with its plastic waste. From the chart below, China was ranked at first place in polluting the ocean the most, which had contributed 8.80 million of mismanaged plastic waste and 3.53 million of plastic marine debris.
I. China and International Recycling Industry
Tied to China’s plastic exports is the repurposed (recycled) plastics market. For the past few decades China was buying as much repurposed plastic as possible, especially from the United States. In fact, scrap used to be America’s top export to China with plastic scrap exports reaching $11.3 billion in 2011 (The Collective, 2015).
Collectively, these countries are responsible for around 76% of China’s plastic imports. Many high-income countries are included in this top 10: Hong Kong, Japan, USA, Germany, Belgium, Australia and Canada are all major plastic exporters.