Posted on 05/25/2021 5:34:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
AsiaOne has launched EarthOne, a new section dedicated to environmental issues — because we love the planet and we believe science. Find articles like this there.
China is the biggest generator of plastic waste, with one-fifth of the world's single-use plastic coming from the country in 2019, according to an Australian study.
In its inaugural Plastic Waste Makers Index published on Tuesday, the Perth-based Minderoo Foundation said just 20 companies contributed half of the world's single-use plastic items thrown away yearly. And a quarter of those were firms headquartered in mainland China.
"China is the world's most populous country. So it's no surprise that they generate the world's largest amount of single-use, plastic waste," said Dominic Charles, lead author of the study and Minderoo's director of finance and transparency.
The researchers said China generated about 18kg (40lbs) of plastic waste per person during the year but that was still only a third of the average 59kg each Australian threw away. The United States was second on the list at 53kg per person and South Korea third at 44kg.
"In terms of per person, China is quite far down the list, ranked at 45 ... China sits at where you expect it for upper middle-income countries," Charles said.
State-owned oil and gas firm Sinopec was the world's third largest single-use plastic waste producer, pumping out about 5.3 million tonnes of the product in 2019, contributing about 2 per cent of its revenue, according to the foundation.
Charles said China must take the lead in addressing the problem.
"We can't tackle single-use plastic waste independent of China. There is a real opportunity here for China to become a leader in circular plastics in the same way it is becoming a leader in solar renewable energy," he said.
"There is a real win-win for China to reduce reliance on fossil fuel based plastics. It would reduce reliance on imports of fossil fuels, contributing to China's 'zero' commitments," he said referring to China's 2060 carbon neutrality target.
"At the same time, it would incentivise more collection and recycling of plastic waste and reducing pollution."
Charles said that using recycled plastic for production, would put a value on plastic waste and create economic incentive to collect plastics.
From plastic bottles to food packaging, single-use plastics are the most common type of plastic produced. More than 130 million tonnes of plastic was thrown away in 2019.
Single-use plastics are made almost entirely from fossil fuels, and are eventually burned, buried in landfills or discarded into the environment, according to the study.
Roughly 300 companies own the world's single-use plastic production facilities, and a third of these firms are from China.
If single-use plastic continued to be made at the present rate, it could account for at least 5 per cent of global greenhouse emissions by 2050, the researchers said.
Charles said that while consumers and brands had made strides in reducing plastic consumption, manufacturers of the raw materials for plastics had yet to take responsibility.
The index was compiled based on estimates from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, and also involved a number of industry and academic institutions including the London School of Economics and Stockholm Environment Institute.
Does Greta Thunberg, aka Pippi Wrongstocking know about this?
Yeah its possible.
Its also possible that would e a pretty neat fire. Couldnt happen to a nicer commie regime.
Lebron said it’s ok.
“You didn’t build that!”
“Biggest in the world”
Maybe because they have 1.4 billion people?
It’s OK the Chinese Communist Party runs the World now
Exposing Australia’s recycling lie | 60 Minutes Australia (about how it all gets dumped on islands)
They could grind it up and build prefab roads and houses out of it.
Does Greta Thunberg, aka Pippi Wrongstocking know about this?
Ah Greta and China are not talking right now because of their fat shaming , LOL
She’s too busy practicing hate looks for President Trump.
Backyard plastic-reprocessing plants. Hey, it worked for steel.
Somehow the US gets the blame for all the plastic waste floating in the ocean, despite having one of the best waste disposal systems.
God provides. Brilliant Americans invented Plasma Recyclers. One can be the size of a semi truck trailer, can recycle everything such as spent nuclear fuel and plastic, and then provide energy for five thousand homes. Wealthy people in American have them in on their properties. Sadly, politicians are dumb and really don’t care. Thankfully, God is brilliant and He always provides. http://plasmawastedisposal.com/
Sooner or later some microbe is going to stumble on a way to eat plastic. Needless to say the damage it will cause will be astronomical.
Soon to be a big plastic island in the Pacific Ocean.
The really terrible thing about this story is that this technology, thermal depolymerization (TDP), has been around for several decades and no one gave it any seriousness.
Changing World technologies could not get anyone to support what they were doing, because they were producing !!!OIL!!!!.
http://www.mesacc.edu/~larur76621/bio105/anything_into_oil.html
https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/anything-into-oil-03
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.