(/)<div class="bg_partners_and_news"></div>

30 May 2018

Can we really put an end toCan we really put an end toplastic waste?plastic waste?Around the world, measures are being introduced to reduceAround the world, measures are being introduced to reducethe amount of plastic we manufacture and discard. Whilethe amount of plastic we manufacture and discard. Whilethese efforts may be laudable, will they actually signal the endthese efforts may be laudable, will they actually signal the endof plastic waste?of plastic waste?

By Margaret Sessa-Hawkins

The statistics are jarring. Eight million(http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_NEWPLASTICSECONOMY_2017.pdf) tons ofplastic waste enters the ocean each year. Seventy percent(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-the-sea--2) of trash in thesea is plastic. It has reached every part of the marine environment, from the ocean’ssurface to the very bottom (http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/plastic-deep-sea-debris-ocean-trench-1.4667038) of the world’s deepest trench. Unfortunately, the tideshows no sign of turning. The amount of plastic in the world’s oceans is expected totriple in a decade.

No less shocking is what these statistics mean for marine life. A recent study showedthat roughly 90 percent (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/15092-plastic-seabirds-albatross-australia/?beta=true) of seabirds ingest plastic. Heart-wrenchingly, many adult birds actually regurgitate the debris(http://datazone.birdlife.org/sowb/casestudy/seabirds-suffer-from-eating-our-junk),meaning they pass it along to their chicks when feeding them. “I will readily admit tobeing reduced to tears more than once watching […] the majestic WanderingAlbatross chick killed by a plastic toothpick,” Stephanie Winnard, BirdLifeInternational’s Marine Project Manager, wrote (/worldwide/news/plastic-killed-albatross-chick-nest-bycatch-huge-threat-sea) in a recent article.

Fortunately, the past decade has seen substantial efforts to try to curb plastic waste.Starting in the early 2000s, countries began taxing single-use plastic bags, or evenbanning them altogether. Currently, more than 30 nations -- 20 of which are on the

(https://www.birdlife.org/sites/default/files/styles/1600/public/news/northern_gannet_better.jpg?itok=toa0FzkI)

This Northern Gannet carrying plastic netting in its beak is part of a pervasiveThis Northern Gannet carrying plastic netting in its beak is part of a pervasive

problem © Cor Fikkertproblem © Cor Fikkert

(/)ShopShop (https://birdlife.teemill.com?utm_source=header- (https://birdlife.teemill.com?utm_source=header-button&utm_medium=header)button&utm_medium=header)

DonateDonate (/worldwide/support-us/donate-birdlife-international? (/worldwide/support-us/donate-birdlife-international?utm_source=header-button&utm_medium=header)utm_source=header-button&utm_medium=header)

SearchSearch

!

African continent -- ban plastic bags in some form, while another 30 have introducedsome type of tax or levy.

And the ban seems to be spreading beyond plastic bags. From Zimbabwe’s 2017 banon expanded polystyrene containers (https://www.voanews.com/a/zimbabwe-ban-plastic-foam/3945349.html); to the European Union’s recent proposal(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44280532) to ban single-use plastics, countriesaround the world are trying to reduce plastic waste.

“I think it’s just a really fabulous set of initiatives” says Dr. Kate O’Neill, a Professor ofEnvironmental Science at U.C. Berkeley. “Hopefully it’s serving to reduce plasticpollution, as well as maintaining customer and consumer awareness of this issue.”

While these efforts to cut plastic waste may be encouraging, how effective willthey actually be? In the past, regulatory measures have had positive impacts on theenvironment. Perhaps the most famous case is in 1987, when the signing of theMontreal Protocol effectively banned chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were causinga hole in the ozone layer. Since the ban, the hole has not only stopped growing, it isactually shrinking (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/06/ozone-layer-mend-thanks-chemical-ban).

Subscribe to Our Newsletter!Enter your email Subscribe

Bans on single-use plastics, however, could be far more complicated. For example, ifpeople turn to other types of disposable carriers, such as paper bags, which requiremore energy(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2011/dec/20/paper-plastic-bags-which-best) to both make and transport, it won’t help with conservation.Additionally, in 2008 the UK Environment Agency found that canvas bags(https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/to-tote-or-note-to-tote/498557/), presumably great for the earth, actually had the potential to impactglobal warming far more severely than plastic. Even plastic-like materials that areostensibly biodegradable or compostable have their problems(https://www.theguardian.com/business-to-business/2017/oct/31/the-plastics-problem-are-natural-alternatives-doing-more-harm-than-good).

“We say let’s ban plastic. What do we replace it with?” says Dr. Trevor Zink, a facultyadvisor at the Institute for Business, Ethics and Sustainability at Loyola MarymountUniversity. “You always have to ask what happens instead.”

This question of what happens instead also applies to recycling. Outside ofbanning single-use plastic, the past few years have seen efforts to try to increase theamount of plastic that is recyclable, and the number of plastics that incorporaterecycled materials. This approach, though, has its drawbacks.

Recycled products are only beneficial to the environment if they replace themanufacture of new products. In a recent paper(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313371834_Circular_Economy_Rebound),Zink and Dr. Roland Geyer of U.C. Santa Barbara argue that recycled plastics do notactually act as substitutes for new materials, and therefore do not have a net benefitfor the environment.

“I think recycling is even more of a problem for a slightly insidious reason,” says Zink.“We all know that we should recycle and that single-use plastics are bad. We can buyplastic bottles because we assuage our guilt by knowing recycling is an option. Ifrecycling wasn’t an option, people might make different consumption choices.”

O’Neill, however, argues against this line of thought. “I know there’s one side of thedebate that says if we have recycling we’re going to keep using plastic. But there’s somuch plastic floating around that isn’t biodegradable and isn’t degrading, I think weshould be beefing up the capacity to actually be recycling that.”

For O’Neill, the solution to this problem lies in increasing the amount of recyclableplastic, and ensuring that plastic that could be recycled doesn’t end up as waste. In2015 in Britain (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/21/only-a-third-of-uk-consumer-plastic-packaging-is-recycled) for example, 1.5 million tons ofplastic was potentially recyclable, yet only 0.5 million tons actually was recycled. “Theinvestment needs to come from governments,” O’Neill said. “Things aren’t going to berecycled just because they’re recyclable. You need to have that critical component -which is, there needs to be a market for it.”

For others, recycling and bans are just a drop in the ocean. “To truly addressplastic waste, we have to address waste management in developing countries” saysProfessor Chris Cheeseman, who lectures on Materials Resources at Imperial CollegeLondon.

A report put out in 2015 by the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center forBusiness and the Environment supports Cheeseman’s assessment. According to thereport, five countries in the Asian-Pacific region — China, Indonesia, Philippines,Vietnam and Thailand — account for 60 percent of plastic waste in the world. Thereport suggested that (https://oceanconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/full-report-stemming-the.pdf) targeted interventions,including collection services, incineration and recycling in those five countries couldreduce global plastic-waste leakage by around 45 percent.

“By the time the plastic bottle is made it's too late.There's nothing we can do except keep it in landfillrather than on a beach.”

However, environmental activists from the region pushed back against thischaracterization. In an open letter (http://www.no-burn.org/wp-content/uploads/Open_Letter_Stemming_the_Tide_Report_2_Oct_15.pdf), they

90% of seabirds like this Laysan Albatross have consumed plastic © Forest and Kim90% of seabirds like this Laysan Albatross have consumed plastic © Forest and Kim

StarrStarr

90% of seabirds like this Laysan Albatross have consumed plastic © Forest and Kim90% of seabirds like this Laysan Albatross have consumed plastic © Forest and Kim

StarrStarr

(https://www.printfriendly.com/print?

url=http://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/single-use-plastic)

WorldwideWorldwide (/Worldwide/News) (/Worldwide/News) MarineMarine (/Worldwide/Programmes/Marine) (/Worldwide/Programmes/Marine)

PlasticsPlastics (/News/Tag/Plastics) (/News/Tag/Plastics) SustainabilitySustainability (/News/Tag/Sustainability) (/News/Tag/Sustainability)

SeabirdSeabird (/News/Tag/Seabird) (/News/Tag/Seabird)

Marine ConservationMarine Conservation (/News/Tag/Marine-Conservation) (/News/Tag/Marine-Conservation)

Sustainable ManagementSustainable Management (/News/Tag/Sustainable-Management) (/News/Tag/Sustainable-Management)

Sustainable TourismSustainable Tourism (/News/Tag/Sustainable-Tourism) (/News/Tag/Sustainable-Tourism)

#YearOfTheBird#YearOfTheBird (/News/Tag/Yearofthebird) (/News/Tag/Yearofthebird)

#BirdYourWorld#BirdYourWorld (/News/Tag/Birdyourworld) (/News/Tag/Birdyourworld)

criticized the report. Their argument? That the proposed waste-managementsolutions were oppositional to incentives to make products easier to recycle orcompost.

With much of the discourse happening at a national level, perhaps you could beforgiven for thinking that you, as an individual, can do little to turn the tide. But you’dbe mistaken. While there may be debate over recycling, bans, or waste collectionmethods, one thing the experts agree on is that if we want to decrease plastic waste,consumers need to lessen their consumption.

“By the time the plastic bottle is made it’s too late,” Zink said. “There’s nothing we cantry to do except keep it in a landfill rather than a beach. So the real story here isabout changes in consumption rather than changes in dealing with waste.”

“I think about the time I ordered a dozen bottles of iced coffee from Amazon andthey each arrived pretty much in their own bag,” O’Neill said. “There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit in terms of plastic reduction in the packaging industry, and maybeconsumers need to deal with the trade-off of having the occasional broken bottle.”

Ultimately, if we want to stop seabirds from ingesting plastic, if we want to preventtons of plastic from entering the ocean, the answer may lie not in trying to banplastic, or to recycle it, but to simply use less of it altogether. This, however, is easiersaid than done.

“The problem is not going to go away very easily,” Cheeseman said. “Plastics are long-lived, durable materials. That’s the good thing about them and that’s the bad thingabout them.”

BirdLife International is a conservation organization working to protect birds and habitatsaround the world. If you would like to support our work, why not make a donation today(/worldwide/support-us/donate-birdlife-international?utm_source=header-button&utm_medium=header)?

2018 is Year of the Bird2018 is Year of the Bird

Take the Pledge at Take the Pledge at www.birdyourworld.comwww.birdyourworld.com(http://www.birdyourworld.com/)(http://www.birdyourworld.com/)

(https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/year-of-the-bird/)

Top StoriesTop Stories

1. 1. 10 things we didn’t know about10 things we didn’t know aboutseabirds (until now) seabirds (until now) (/node/8225?(/node/8225?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)

2. 2. Caught in the Crossfire: RhinocerosCaught in the Crossfire: RhinocerosHornbillHornbill (/node/8219? (/node/8219?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)

3. 3. Turkey's natural olive groves: areTurkey's natural olive groves: areancient methods the farmingancient methods the farming

future?future? (/node/8217? (/node/8217?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)

4. 4. Spain’s mission to save the White-Spain’s mission to save the White-headed Duckheaded Duck (/node/8207? (/node/8207?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)

5. 5. The Black-tailed Godwit reboundsThe Black-tailed Godwit reboundsin Swedenin Sweden (/node/8206? (/node/8206?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=topnews)

New CampaignNew CampaignCollectionCollection(https://birdlife.teemill.com/?(https://birdlife.teemill.com/?utm_source=sidebox&utm_medium=sidebox)utm_source=sidebox&utm_medium=sidebox)

(https://birdlife.teemill.com/?utm_source=sidebox&utm_medium=sidebox)

Share the issues you’re passionate about withour organic BirdLife t-shirts!

Shop NowShop Now (https://birdlife.teemill.com/? (https://birdlife.teemill.com/?

utm_source=sidebox&utm_medium=sidebox)utm_source=sidebox&utm_medium=sidebox)

Bird Your WorldBird Your World(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/bird-(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/bird-your-world-12-simple-your-world-12-simple-actions-make-life-actions-make-life-better-birds?better-birds?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/bird-your-world-12-simple-actions-make-life-better-birds?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

To celebrate Year of the Bird, here are 12

simple actions you can take to make life betterfor birds.

Get startedGet started

(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/bird-(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/bird-

your-world-12-simple-actions-make-life-your-world-12-simple-actions-make-life-

better-birds?better-birds?

utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

State of the World’sState of the World’sBirdsBirds(https://www.birdlife.org/sites/default/files/attachments/BL_ReportENG_V11_spreads.pdf?(https://www.birdlife.org/sites/default/files/attachments/BL_ReportENG_V11_spreads.pdf?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

(https://www.birdlife.org/sites/default/files/attachments/BL_ReportENG_V11_spreads.pdf?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

State of the World’s Birds 2018 - Taking thepulse of the planet.

State of the World’s Birds 2018State of the World’s Birds 2018

(https://www.birdlife.org/sites/default/files/attachments/BL_ReportENG_V11_spreads.pdf?(https://www.birdlife.org/sites/default/files/attachments/BL_ReportENG_V11_spreads.pdf?

utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

The Red ListThe Red List(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-list-2017-seabirds-list-2017-seabirds-starving-songbirds-starving-songbirds-trapped-hope-pelican-trapped-hope-pelican-and-kiwis?and-kiwis?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-list-2017-seabirds-starving-songbirds-trapped-hope-pelican-and-kiwis?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

Related NewsRelated News (/news) (/news)

Discover the health of the world's bird speciesin our latest annual update.

The Red ListThe Red List

(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-(https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-

list-2017-seabirds-starving-songbirds-list-2017-seabirds-starving-songbirds-

trapped-hope-pelican-and-kiwis?trapped-hope-pelican-and-kiwis?

utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar)

BirdLife: The MagazineBirdLife: The Magazine(http://www.birdlife.org/birdlife-(http://www.birdlife.org/birdlife-magazine?magazine?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=magazine)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=magazine)

(http://www.birdlife.org/birdlife-magazine?utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=magazine)

Get the latest conservation news and insights,delivered straight from the field to your door.

Subscribe todaySubscribe today

(http://www.birdlife.org/birdlife-magazine?(http://www.birdlife.org/birdlife-magazine?

utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=magazine)utm_source=sidebar&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=magazine)

News by AreaNews by Area

AllAll (/news) (/news) - - AfricaAfrica (/news? (/news?field_region_tid=6)field_region_tid=6) - - AmericasAmericas(/news?field_region_tid=7)(/news?field_region_tid=7) - - AsiaAsia(/news?field_region_tid=5)(/news?field_region_tid=5)Europe and Central AsiaEurope and Central Asia (/news? (/news?field_region_tid=4)field_region_tid=4)Middle EastMiddle East (/news? (/news?field_region_tid=10)field_region_tid=10) - - PacificPacific (/news? (/news?field_region_tid=11)field_region_tid=11)

Search News

(/worldwide/news/new-study-pinpoints-birds-prey-hardest-hit-wind-farms)

31 Oct 201731 Oct 2017

New study pinpoints birds of prey as hardest hit by wind farms (/worldwide/news/new-study-pinpoints-birds-prey-hardest-hit-wind-farms)

(/worldwide/news/bird-paradise-christmas-island-saved-mining-devastation)

5 Jun 20185 Jun 2018

Bird paradise Christmas Island saved from mining devastation (/worldwide/news/bird-paradise-christmas-island-saved-mining-devastation)

(/worldwide/news/roots-canopy-satellite-app-empowers-communities-protect-their-own-forest)

22 Jan 201822 Jan 2018

Satellite tracking app empowers communities to protect their own forest (/worldwide/news/roots-canopy-satellite-app-empowers-communities-protect-their-own-forest)

Get news by email

Enter your emailEnter your email Subscribe

Connect With Us

© 2018 BirdLife International

Charity registration number 1042125

(https://www.facebook.com/BirdLifeInternational)(https://twitter.com/BirdLife_News)(https://www.linkedin.com/company/birdlife-international)

(https://www.instagram.com/birdlife_insta/)

(http://www.birdlife.org/news/rss-latest)

(https://www.youtube.com/user/BirdLifeVideo)(https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/103125153917776892723/+BirdlifeOrgInternational/posts)(http://birdlife-international.tumblr.com/)

News (/news)

Jobs and opportunities (/worldwide/jobs-and-opportunities-birdlife-international)

Donate (https://donorbox.org/birdlife-international) Contact us (/contact-us)

Privacy (/worldwide/privacy) Terms of use (/worldwide/terms-and-conditions-use)

Cookies (/worldwide/cookie-policy)

Extranet (https://partnership.birdlife.org/login.action?os_destination=%2Findex.action&permissionViolation=true)

SearchSearch