Take all that plastic we go through day in and day out. ETHAN: After we drill and frack and insert other PG13 sounding term here, we have to actually turn our fossil fuels into polyethylene. A new legislative guide launched today by UNEP and WRI digs deep into how the law can be used to tackle plastic pollution and support a circular plastics economy. Youre being ridiculous. According to a recent analysis examining global plastic waste generation between 2010 and 2016, the United States was responsible for more plastic trash than any country in the world. For years, Arellano helped these communities in their fight for clean air and water but did so without realizing what those petrochemical plants were making. Another very important tip, Harrison says, is to keep plastic bags of all kinds out of your recycling bin. I mean, look at all the kids roaming the streets looking for water after eating a single Saltine. , and tweak it to consume PET 20% faster than it originally did. How do we do that? The Alliance The plastic waste problem explained March 22, 2021 3 min Overview Plastic is a life-changing resource, but the same qualities that make it usefulalongside poor waste managementhave created a global waste challenge. This enzyme, known as Ideonella Sakaiensis 201-F6, is a bacteria that can digest plastic by secreting an enzyme called PETase, and ingesting the carbon in PET to be used as a food source. Dr. Taylor, could you tell us a bit about your background and research interests? This encourages people to collect ocean-bound plastic before it enters the waterways, and it can be traded for social benefits, including money, food and other services (such as school fees). Australian company Licella Holdings has developed a new patented technology, known as the. Take two minutes, help out the show, and get a shoutout at the end of the show by leaving a five star rating and a review on Apple or Podcast Addict OR join our Patreon at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin. With plastic production set to triple globally by 2060,plastics made primarily from oil or gas are a growing source of the carbon pollution fuelling climate change. So thats exactly what I did. Will it be recycled? But heres the buzz-killing reality: There are millions of tons of debris floating around in that waterand most of it is plastic. Suite 800 The study concluded that both the prevention of plastic from entering waterways and plastic collection are matters of urgency, highlighting the importance of ensuring the care of aquatic systems and human health. And there, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it will remain for hundreds of years. ETHAN: Specifically, well be talking about grocery bags. ETHAN: So where do we go from here? If you melt a plastic bag down, you can absolutely recycle that polyethylene, and in fact, recycled high-density polyethylene has about a third of the carbon footprint of virgin high-density polyethylene. However, today only 15% of plastic waste is recycled. One idea to stop plastic getting there in the first place is a little more abstract. I have bamboo cutlery." We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. And so because of that bands have been more popular. A darkly pigmented species of fungus, known as Aspergillus Tubingensis, has been found to contain agents that can degrade polyurethane (PU). Likewise, plastic waste is ubiquitous.It has been found, for example, in Arctic sea ice, beer, farm soil, trout and other wild freshwater fish, shrimp and other shellfish, songbirds and seabirds, human placentas, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, midoceanic . And as you mentioned, tote bags can be actually more harmful. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org. Two examples from this list include Plastic Fischer Trash Boom and Hoola One. Meredith Rizzo/NPR ETHAN: And the list of policy approaches goes on and on. Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses. In 2018 though, 68.1 percent of paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling, which is a really impressive number, although its worth noting that paper fibers become weaker each time theyre recycled, so there are still limitations to that. An accelerated transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies, the removal of subsidies and a shift towards circular approaches will help reduce plastic waste at the needed scale. And so I was interested in understanding to what degree does a patchwork of policies actually lead customers to switch where theyre shopping. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, WRI and UNEP found that more than 100 countries regulated single-use plastic bags. that is able to target microplastics in the ocean. And beyond that, ethylene itself is a dangerous pollutant. Why Plastic Pollution Is a Problem. Recycling correctly can keep a lot of plastics out of the waste stream. Logos 1996. In fact, 79 percent of microplastics sampled in the marine environment originated from polyethylene specifically. As most of the plastics that we use dont break down and dissolve easily, it is slowly filling up our oceans, which will take centuries to disintegrate, posing tremendous issues for aquatic life, human health and the marine ecosystem. Help keep our marine life from eating and swimming in garbage. It's a big problem, notes Harrison. The U.S. is the number two producer of polyethylene in the world behind China, and in the U.S., 80 percent of our primary petrochemical supply is in Texas and Louisiana. The assessment examines the magnitude and severity of marine litter and plastic pollution and reviews existing solutions and actions. First off, this sort of tax does hit low income communities the hardest, since they spend a larger percentage of their monthly income on food. Its the same you know, it gets rolled into the price of your groceries the same way that youre paying for the cashiers, and the store workers and the age back and all of that you are paying for your plastic bags, but you dont see that what we call marginal cost per plastic bag. Governments can also use economic incentives to encourage manufacturers to adopt alternatives to plastic (such as using sugar cane to create plastic bags) or to create revenue that can fund plastic waste clean-up efforts. There are thousands of municipal and private recycling programs in the U.S. and they can vary a lot from place to place, so don't assume what your local program will take. The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. For those times when you do order in or eat out, tell the establishment you dont need any plastic cutlery or, for some serious extra credit, bring your own food-storage containers to restaurants for leftovers. In fact, we can take it a step further. The Cat-HTR chemically recycles mixed plastics without the need to separate the different plastic types. Then Christmas is for you. And behavioral economics really explores a lot of that. She says some days she also carries chopsticks and a reusable straw. In fact, they may even feel too awkward to ask for one. Seaweed, however, is the solution used by Indonesian start-up called Evoware. It is a stretch of bike path in the Dutch city of Zwolle made of recycled plastic - and it is the first of its kind. Many environmentalists and research scientists argue that the only way to address the spiraling plastic waste problem is by enacting policies that force manufacturers to halt or . So if you have a policy in your own city, but the next city over doesnt, and you decide to shop in then next city over to avoid the policy. Now thats just one set of data, but I hope my point is clear: the production of our plastic bags causes harmful air pollution, and that pollution disproportionately hits low income and minority communities. Its been more than five years since single-use plastic bags like these were banned from grocery stores, a ban advocates say made strides for the environment. Plastic bags could also be more sustainable from the production side. If our current rate of pollution continues, experts predict that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. is affecting economies, industries and global issues, with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale. And thats actually increasing the carbon footprint. Again, Im not referring to carbon emissions, Im talking nitrous oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, smog, Sagittariuses, really bad stuff. This experimental nanotechnology is able to break down microplastic in the water without causing any harm to marine life. Reporting by New York-based market analystsS&P Global, shows demand for raw recycled plastic slowing due, among other factors, to rising transport costs for recycling businesses in Asia and a slowdown in the construction sector that creates plastic building materials. Because with any product, its important to think about all those three dimensions, can we as consumers reduce the amount that were using? Boost this article That signals to customers that these arent reusable products. Because of that, the climate impact of a cotton tote is 131 times that of a plastic bag, and its overall environmental impact is thousands of times worse. "It's difficult to reprocess and sort through all the plastic," said Lisa Ramsden, Greenpeace USA Senior Plastics Campaigner. Or is it a little too nuanced to make that type of assessment? *This article was originally published in 2018. Indonesian start-up company Evoware has been researching ways of converting seaweed into a bioplastic. Its tricky to separate flimsy promises from whats actually environmentally friendly. Its like excuses for not doing your homework. Recycling technologies only provide partial solutions for processing plastic waste and need to be combined with other solutions such as controlled landfills and controlled incineration technologies. Yeet that wheat. Those are the kinds of topics that I focus on in my research. It operates in multiple regions including Haiti, Brazil and Philippines. While the price of virgin plastic is at the whim of fluctuating oil and gas prices, these fossil fuels are often subsidized. There was a 72 percent drop in grocery bag litter in the state just one year after it was fully implemented. And an estimated 10 million tons of plastic are discarded in the ocean yearly. As most of the plastics that we use dont break down and dissolve easily, it is slowly filling up our oceans, which will take centuries to disintegrate, posing tremendous issues for aquatic life, human health and the marine ecosystem. The study concluded that both the prevention of plastic from entering waterways and plastic collection are matters of urgency, highlighting the importance of ensuring the care of aquatic systems and human health. debut in season five. A garbage truck ship will collect the plastic every few months. Bag bans seem to be all the rage, but its not the only option. We use [drumroll] oil and gas! And in particular, stores start offering thicker plastic bags and sticker paper bags for free. A Solution of the Legendary Plastic Waste Problem 38. . Wait for an answer.". 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