Plastic is not fantastic

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a charitable organization created to make people think about the future of the planet and move to a circular economy: restore natural resources, process and reuse waste. 

Today there are more than 170 million tons of plastic in the world ocean. Every minute the contents of one garbage truck falls out into the ocean. 

A study published by the foundation showed that by 2025 the ratio of plastic and fish would be this: for every three tons of fish there will be one ton of plastic. And by 2050, there will be more plastic garbage in the ocean than fish, unless decisive action is taken to recycle garbage. 

The fund report states that 14% of plastic is utilized, and only 5% is recycled repeatedily. Plastics recycling is much lower than paper (58%), iron and steel (90%). 

Today, to imagine a world without plastic is almost impossible. In economics, plastic is a key raw material for sectors such as packaging, construction, transport, health care and electronics. Plastic brings these sectors benefits from a combination of low cost, versatility and durability. 

Plastic packaging accounts for about 30% of total plastic production. The main types of this package include bottles for water, alcohol, milk and juice, bottles for coolers, food containers, plastic cutlery and glasses, cosmetics containers, shampoos.  

A large garbage patch in the Pacific consists of garbage thrown into the ocean. According to oceanographer Charles Moore, eighty percent of garbage enters the ocean from land, and twenty percent is thrown from ships.  

In the ocean, plastic breaks into millions of small pieces that are difficult to see. In his study, marine biologist Richard Thompson called these pieces «microplastic.”  

According to Greenpeace, marine litter harms at least 300 species of animals. For example, jellyfish and fish confuse bunches of plastic particles with zooplankton and take them for food. Bottle caps and rings fall into the stomachs of seabirds and animals, especially turtles and albatrosses.  

Only one bottle, just one juice tube, just one single-dose bottle, just one pack, but there are more than seven billion of us!

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Polina Mashkova

By author Polina Mashkova