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The Transition | March 2024
People and progress in solving the ocean plastic crisis
About OpenOceans Global. Our work centers on mapping ocean plastic, curating the best solutions, and linking together a community of ocean plastic experts and leaders. Learn more on the Weather Channel's Pattrn interview, NBC7/39's Down to Earth segment, and ArcNews.
Past issues of The Transition
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In This Issue: (links to articles below)
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Did you know?
According to the Weizmann Institute of Science, the amount of plastic on Earth outweighs all land and sea creatures currently alive.
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Taking a Deeper Dive
This month we are providing overviews of several recently published reports rather than a single Deeper Dive about one of them.
The Climate Impacts of Plastics – 3.8% to 4.5% of global GHG emissions
Image credit: GRID-Arendal
On February 29, 2024, GRID-Arendal released a report, Climate Impacts of Plastic, Global Actions to Stem Climate Change and End Plastic Pollution, that seeks to identify options for measures and strengthening governmental accountability in addressing the climate impacts of plastics. The report states that “there are hidden climate impacts throughout the plastics life cycle … The science clearly indicates that greenhouse gas emissions from the plastics life cycle are substantial.” These are the key findings:
- In 2015, the sourcing, production, use, and disposal of plastics collectively contributed to greenhouse gas emissions ranging from 1.8 Gt to 2 Gt of CO2e, accounting for approximately 3.8 percent to 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Despite the ongoing efforts to reduce plastic consumption and improve recycling, global plastic production increased from 322 million tons in 2015 to 400 million tons (excluding polymers not converted to plastic parts) in 2022.
- Plastics have become one of the fastest growing materials in the global economy, surpassing the growth rates of commodities such as steel, aluminum, and cement.
- The production landscape remains dominated by fossil-based plastics, accounting for approximately 90.6% of global production, while secondary plastics constitute 9%, bio-based plastics 0.5%, and carbon-capture-based plastics <0.1%.
- The production and conversion of primary plastic polymers is highly energy intensive and relies predominantly on energy from fossil fuels.
- This rapid acceleration in plastic production and the reliance on fossil fuels poses a substantial challenge to global endeavors aimed at limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5°C.
GRID-Arendal is a Norway-based, non-profit environmental communications center that collaborates with the United Nations Environment Programme and other partners worldwide.
State of the science on plastic chemicals - 4,200 are of concern
Image credit: The Research Council of Norway
Another report, State of the Science on Plastic Chemicals, focuses on Identifying and addressing chemicals and polymers of concern. It provides a thorough and comprehensive overview of the current scientific understanding of the chemical dimension of plastics, including the hazards, functionalities, uses, production volumes, and regulatory status of plastic chemicals. Released on March 14, 2024, by The Research Council of Norway, this updated report synthesizes the evidence available about chemicals in plastic and found the following:
- More than 16,000 chemicals are potentially used or present in plastic materials and products.
- Only 6% of these chemicals are currently subject to international regulation, although a much higher number are produced in high volumes and possess a high potential for exposure.
- More than 4,200 plastic chemicals are of concern because they are persistent, bioaccumulative, mobile, and/or toxic.
- Over 1,300 chemicals of concern are known to be marketed for use in plastics, and 29–66% of the chemicals used or found in well-studied plastic types are of concern. This means that chemicals of concern can be present in all plastics types.
- Over a quarter of known plastic chemicals lack basic information on their identity, and more than half have ambiguous or missing information on their functions and applications in the public domain.
- Production volume data are not globally representative and restricted to certain countries.
- Hazard information is lacking for over 10,000 chemicals, although such information is essential for ensuring proper assessment and management of these chemicals.
- There is a need for more transparent information on plastic chemicals’ identities, hazards, functionalities, production volumes, and their presence in plastic.
The report makes the following four recommendations:
- Regulate plastic chemicals comprehensively and efficiently.
- Require transparency on plastic chemicals.
- Simplify plastics toward safety and sustainability.
- Build capacity to create safer and more sustainable plastics.
The Research Council of Norway is a Norwegian government agency that funds research and works to promote international research and innovation, and cooperation.
What do Americans think about plastic waste in 2024?
Image credit: World Wildlife Fund
A March 21, 2024, report by the World Wildlife Fund provided the results of a survey of more than 1,000 Americans, representative of the U.S. general population, asking them what they think about plastic waste. The U.S. generates more plastic waste than anywhere else in the world, affecting American rivers, coastlines, landscapes, and communities. Here are a few key takeaways:
- 85% think that plastic waste pollution is a serious and concerning problem that requires immediate political action to solve.
- 87% would be in favor of laws that incentivize companies to reduce plastic waste.
- 84% would make companies responsible for the plastic waste they create.
- 78% would penalize companies for creating waste.
- 71% support banning single-use plastics.
- 70% support placing a fee on single-use plastics.
- When asked, “would you be more likely to undertake any of the following actions if there was more assurance it was beneficial to the environment,” they were “somewhat to much more likely” to do the following:
- 94% - to recycle plastics.
- 91% - to limit how much single-use plastic they use.
- 92% - to choose products that are made from recycled plastics.
- 91% - to make use of reusable and/or refillable products in place of single-use plastic items.
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Image credit: Baby Blues / Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott
- Investors Are Pushing More Big Brands to Disclose and Reduce Plastic Use, TriplePundit, March 26, 2024
- Environmental Law Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium report outlines existing authorities the U.S. government can use to stem the flow of plastic pollution, Monterey Bay Aquarium press release, March 21, 2024
- Global warming and plastic pollution entwined in vicious circle, researchers say, PHYS.ORG, March 19, 2024
- Study finds large accumulations of plastics in the ocean, even outside so-called garbage patch, PHYS.ORG, March 19, 2024
- Scientists make game-changing discovery about ‘the world’s most important chemical’ — here’s what it could do for the industry, The Cool Down, March 6, 2024
- Public policy, international competitiveness in spotlight, Plastics News, February 29, 2024
- Want fewer microplastics in your tap water? Try boiling it first, PHYS.ORG, February 28, 2024
- Our demand for cheap plastics is choking this town, Heated, February 27, 2024
- California faces an uphill battle against plastic, PHYS.ORG, February 23, 2024
- The Fraud of Plastic Recycling, Center for Climate Integrity, February 2024
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Help Locate Plastic-Fouled Coastlines
Each month we share an image of a beach fouled by plastic. To report a shoreline pervasively fouled by significant amounts of plastic debris, use our online plastic trash reporting app. Thank you!
This Month’s Coastal Hotspot: Laysan Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Image Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Seaborne plastic debris litters this beach on Laysan Island in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Tides wash the debris ashore from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which flows past the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. Beach cleanups are periodically organized on these remote uninhabited islands. According to a blog on the National Association of Science Writers site, “The island is littered with trash - laundry baskets, shoes, fishing rope as thick as your leg and thin line that entangles animals like barbed wire. The garbage is everywhere, and like the fine granular white sand that works its way between your bathing suit and skin, the marine debris works its way into every part of the island. It gets everywhere and in everything, including inside the animals, especially the seabirds.”
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Solutions to the Ocean Plastic Crisis
See more solutions on our ocean plastic solutions page. Have a solution we should know about? Submit it here.
This Month's Featured Solution: Heinz Ketchup Recyclable Bottle Cap
Heinz’s new bottle cap is on the left. Image credit: Packaging Gateway / Berry Global
Redesigning a bottle cap so it can be recycled seems like a simple enough project. Still, it took ketchup maker Heinz nine years, 185,000 product development hours, 45 iterations, and $1.2 million to create a new version of its plastic bottle cap. The new cap is made from only one material: mono-material polypropene (PP). The old cap used multiple types of plastic, including a difficult-to-recycle silicone material for the valve that controls how much ketchup comes out, meaning that recycling facilities needed to physically separate the silicone from the rest of the cap to process it. The change has the potential to keep hundreds of millions of bottle caps out of landfills each year. The new design could be adopted by other products such as shampoo and body wash. The new cap won Rigid Pack of the Year at the U.K. Packaging Awards and is already on the shelves in the UK.
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Meet the Experts and Leaders
OpenOceans Global is identifying ocean plastic experts from around the world. Here are two experts leading efforts to reduce plastic pollution that you should know about.
Dr. Erik van Sebille, Professor and Oceanographer, Utrecht University
Image credit: Dr. Erik van Sebille
"Whose plastic is that? I want to attribute the source of plastic items found in the ocean," says Utrecht University professor and oceanographer Dr. Erik van Sebille. His research focuses on how ocean currents transport heat, nutrients, marine organisms, and plastic litter. Van Sebille’s Topios Project (Tracking Ocean Plastic in Our Seas - 2017 - 2022) developed an innovative, powerful, and comprehensive model for tracking marine plastic through the ocean. Now he is starting a new project, “Tracing Marine Macroplastics by Unraveling the Ocean’s Multiscale Transport Processes." Van Sebille says, “The plastic polluting our ocean is an atrocity, and this project will help clean-up efforts. And at the same time, the floating plastic provides a unique opportunity to improve our fundamental understanding of ocean transport processes.” He is also the lead developer of the OceanParcels code, an open-source framework to simulate how ocean currents transport plastic around the ocean. Van Sebille was also part of a team that developed a methodology to identify the most effective cleanup locations on the Galápagos Islands within the Galápagos Marine Reserve. In 2024, he was appointed a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities.
Megan Juran, Coordinator, Washington CoastSavers
Megan Juran packing out trash on the Olympic Peninsula. Image credit: Megan Juran
Megan Juran is the coordinator of Washington CoastSavers, a volunteer organization working with an alliance of dedicated partners and thousands of volunteers to keep hundreds of miles of Pacific coast and Strait of Juan de Fuca beaches clean. While many U.S. beaches are fouled by plastic from land and river sources, in Washington, storms often push trash onto shorelines in remote locations, making it difficult to coordinate efforts to remove debris. Along the rugged Olympic Peninsula, volunteers frequently have to hike several miles to reach beaches where they often find caches of plastic debris above the high tide line. Caches are places where people walking the beach have picked up the litter and moved it to a central location. The Washington coast is a prime area for commercial fishing, and lost gear often dominates the litter collected. Juran first gained experience in marine debris issues when she was a State Park ranger on Kauai and says she removed tons of ghost nets snared on reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands while volunteering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She served as a ranger with Olympic National Park for seven years before rounding out her expertise by running the Clallam County/Washington State University Extension’s Waste Prevention Program. In addition to cleaning Washington beaches, she is looking forward to sharing CoastSavers’ latest projects, which include expanding cleanup efforts into the remote beaches of the Quinault Indian Nation, school outreach, and a marine debris mapping project to understand the depth of marine debris on Olympic Peninsula beaches.
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