(ORDO NEWS) — Plastic pollution on Earth could triple by 2060. This statement was made by experts from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
According to them, by this time, the annual production of plastic will reach 1.2 billion a year, and garbage – 1 billion a year.
Even if tough measures are taken to limit demand and improve processing technologies, its production will increase in the next 40 years, the report said.
However, the measures taken, nevertheless, are able to increase the share of plastic recycling from 12 to 40%.
“Plastic pollution is one of the most important environmental challenges of the 21st century, affecting widespread destruction of ecosystems and human health,” said Matthias Kormann, head of the organization.
Since the 1950s, approximately 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced on the planet, more than 60% have been thrown into landfills, burned or thrown into rivers and oceans. In 2019, 460 million tons of plastic were used globally, twice as many as twenty years earlier.
European fields used for agriculture are the world‘s largest reservoir of microplastic particles. This conclusion was made earlier by scientists from Cardiff University in an article published in the journal Environmental Pollution.
They estimated that between 31,000 and 42,000 tons of microplastics are thrown into the fields of Europe every year, which is nothing compared to the volumes polluting the world’s oceans.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.