OECD Says Global Plastic Waste Likely to Triple by 2060
According to newly disclosed data, the use of plastics will nearly triple in less than four decades in a world plagued by plastic pollution. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the annual production of fossil fuel-based plastics is expected to reach 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060, with waste exceeding 1 billion tonnes.
According to the study, economic and population growth will fuel this surge, with the highest increases projected in rising economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
According to the OECD, aggressive actions to cut demand and increase efficiencies would not help reduce plastic pollution. It said plastic production would almost double in less than 40 years.
However, such internationally coordinated programmes have the potential to increase the percentage of future plastic garbage that is recycled from 12 to 40%.
International concern about the volume and pervasiveness of plastic pollution and its consequences is growing.
Microplastics have been identified inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean and frozen under Arctic ice, infiltrating the planet's most distant and otherwise pristine locations.
More than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are predicted to die each year.
Plastic has been produced in large quantities since the 1950s, with more than 60% of it ending up in landfills, being burned, or being dumped directly into rivers and oceans.
OECD chief Mathias Cormann said, "Plastic pollution is one of the great environmental challenges of the 21st century, causing wide-ranging damage to ecosystems and human health."
Plastic waste has nearly doubled in volume, surpassing 350 million tonnes, with less than 10% of it recycled.
Plastic output is set to rise, driven by economic expansion and a rising population. In the handling of waste, policies can have a big effect.
Nearly 100 million tonnes of plastic garbage are currently mishandled or allowed to escape into the environment, with this number expected to double by 2060.
The report says that "coordinated and ambitious global initiatives can practically eliminate plastic pollution by 2060."
Source: Aljazeera
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