| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
The Transition | November 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
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
In This Issue: (links to articles below)
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Did you know?
Ten trillion plastic pellets are estimated to enter the ocean each year because they are lost at every stage within the plastic supply chain.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Taking a Deeper Dive
With INC-5 nearly here, read OpenOceans’ plastic treaty update
Busan Exhibition and Convention Centre. Image Credit: UNEP
The Busan Exhibition and Convention Centre in Busan, Korea, will be the site of the fifth and final negotiating session to complete the International Plastic Treaty,. The INC-5, being held Nov. 25- Dec. 1, may be the most challenging session yet.
Following the iNC-4 in Toronto, Canada, last April, there were 1,500 unresolved brackets of text in the most up-to-date draft text (UNEP/PPINC.5/4), according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, That text will be the starting point for INC-5. Of concern to environmental groups, it appeared there would be no language addressing a reduction in plastic production, the key to their “turn off the tap” campaign.
To provide a more informed discussion, two intersessional expert groups were formed to address the substantive issues that appeared likely to make it into the final text of the treaty.
- Expert Group 1. How to finance the implementation of the treaty. See the report.
- Expert Group 2. Assessing the chemicals of concern in plastic products and looking at product design. See the report.
There is broad agreement that chemicals of concern need to be addressed for reasons of human health and environmental justice. Plastic product design needs to be harmonized to improve the quantity and quality of plastic recycling. Finally, financing the treaty’s implementation is critical to success.
Chair Vayas and Non Paper 3
Recognizing the challenges facing the INC-5 negotiations, INC chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso hosted informal meetings with negotiators in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 30 to October 1, 2024. The meetings included a review of a confidential paper Vayas produced, followed by a second, more widely circulated document, and then, on October 30, 2024, the public release of a document titled Non-Paper 3 of the Chair of the Committee.
The Chair’s paper is an attempt to provide a more simplified basis for the treaty that might help guide negotiators to a successful conclusion. “I have identified significant convergence areas among delegations on a range of issues under negotiation. I am suggesting text for those articles where I believe there is sufficient convergence,“ Vayas writes. He drew on the elements of the draft treaty text and “distilled that text and attempted to reflect the essence and intent of the elements in a more concise text.”
Testing interest in caps on plastic production
Of note, Vayas is testing the waters on the issue of placing caps on plastic production. His paper suggests language that most would say is only a modest first step. But it is a first step. He proposes that “INC-5 agrees on text that includes a process to address the current information gaps regarding existing and needed levels of production, as well as the lack of clarity about efficiency and effectiveness in recovering plastic polymers.”
He further suggests an article of the treaty related to plastic production could “acknowledge the need to manage the supply of primary polymers to achieve sustainable levels of production and consumption of plastics and encourage Parties to take measures to promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics.”
Where plastic is produced, plastic pellet pollution spots
Image credit: PIRG
PIRG, the Public Interest Research Group, has produced a map of pre-production microplastic facilities across the U.S., using data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory Database ”to better understand how and where plastic pellets are entering into our environment.” The map is also useful for understanding where facilities would need to be closed if a reduction in plastic production were to be achieved.
PIRG says, “Ten trillion plastic pellets are estimated to enter the ocean each year because they are lost at every stage within the plastic supply chain.” The group’s research found that “there are 141 facilities that manufacture pre-production microplastics of some kind. Another 193 facilities are owned by a company or parent company that produces pre-production microplastic, but there was insufficient publicly available information to confirm if the particular facility produces pre-production microplastic. These facilities are located in 33 states and within 13 of the 18 water basins in the continental United States.”
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
"Upstream reduction is not really easy. There is no procurement department in the world that accepts a 20 percent higher packaging price just because it's the right thing to do." Stefanie Beitien, Managing Director, PCX Solutions
Image credit: Elham Fallahi
Elham Fallahi is an Iranian artist who creates sculptures, like the one in the image above, by collecting discarded nylon and other plastic waste and molding it into fantastic shapes, YouTube, June 22, 2024
- 7-year study reveals plastic fragments from all over the globe are rising rapidly in the North Pacific Garbage Patch, PHYS.ORG, November 19, 2024
- Banning free plastic bags for groceries resulted in customers purchasing more plastic bags, study finds, PHYS.ORG, November 18, 2024
- Can plastic fit in the palm of your hand? Don’t recycle it, The Washington Post, November 15, 2024
- America recycles, but not enough, Plastics News, November 14, 2024
- Lifetime cost of plastic 10 times higher for low-income countries than rich ones, revealing crippling inequities in plastics value chain, WWF, November 7, 2024
- Polypropylene Recycling Coalition releases first annual report, Recycling Today, November 4, 2024
- Shells to surfboards: how wildlife has adapted to plastic, PHYS.ORG, October 31, 2024
- To tackle plastic scourge, Philippines makes companies pay, PHYS.ORG, October 31, 2024
- The Plastics Industry’s Wish List for a Second Trump Administration, ProPublica, October 23, 2024
- Microplastics increasing in freshwater, directly related to plastic production, PHYS.ORG, October 30, 2024
- Plastic chemical phthalate causes DNA breakage and chromosome defects in sex cells, new study finds, Medical Xpress, October 24, 2024
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
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: Penghu Beach, Taiwan
Image credit: Taiwan Panorama
Marine plastic debris continues to be a problem in Taiwan. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of the Environment, 29.8% of marine waste was plastic bottles, based on information from the Ocean Conservancy’s International Ocean Cleanup. Bottles have been at the top of the list for five consecutive years. Second was plastic bottle caps at 12.8%. Cigarette butts contributed 7.5%. According to an article in the Taipei Times, a plan to subsidize the hospitality industry to cut down on plastic bottle use will be implemented next year. The government will also subsidize the installation of refilling systems for glass-bottled water. A subsidy on recycling and disposal will be given to bottled water manufacturers who use caps attached to bottles. The government also promised to clamp down on littered cigarette butts, most of which reach the ocean after people discard them on roads or into drainages that flow into the sewer system and then into the ocean. Data available to OpenOceans estimates that 61.36% of Taiwan’s marine plastic debris comes from the Philippines, 14.7% from China, 11.2% from Taiwan, and 6.81% from Vietnam.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
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: The CARTHE Drifter
Image credit: GreenWave Instruments
The CARTHE drifter is a low-cost, small, biodegradable surface buoy that tracks surface currents (upper 60 cm). The patented technology uses GPS and low-orbiting satellite telemetry to accurately send its location every 5 minutes for up to three months. The CARTHE drifter comes in a three-part kit that is easily assembled and deployed from any size ship or in coastal waters, rivers, or lakes. Its size and weight are three times smaller than other surface drifters, and its main parts are injection molded with biodegradable PHA plastics, which makes it the only mass-produced environmentally friendly drifter on the market. These qualities allow for large-scale deployments with a reduced impact on the environment. The drifters are used by oceanography, Coast Guards, and oil and maritime industries in oceans around the world. GreenWave Instruments LLC produces the drifter and also offers services to manage and analyze drifter data.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Meet the Experts and Leaders
OpenOceans Global is identifying ocean plastic experts from around the world. Here is an expert leading efforts to reduce plastic pollution that you should know about.
Bethanie Carney Almroth, Professor of Ecotoxicology, University of Gothenburg
Image credit: University of Gothenburg
Bethanie Carney Almroth is a professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Gothenburg researching the effects of microplastics and plastic-associated chemicals in aquatic organisms, mostly fish. She is also the co-coordinator of the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, an international network of scientific and technical experts who share the goal of achieving an effective global plastics treaty to end plastic pollution anchored in and centered around evidence-based decision-making. The Coalition will release a report on November 23, 2024, called the Scientists’ Declaration for the Global Plastics Treaty – updated for INC-5. The report declares that “the harm caused by plastic pollution cannot be prevented by improvements in waste management alone. For the treaty to be effective, plastic pollution should be addressed via the waste hierarchy, prioritizing reduction and time-bound elimination of primary plastic polymer production, redesign, reuse, refill, repair, repurpose, and remanufacture, and safer and more sustainable waste management.” The document provides a list of requirements the Coalition believes are necessary. Almroth was also responsible for a national-level experiment in Sweden allowing citizens to participate in research to increase knowledge about how, where, and what type of plastic is in nature in Sweden. “80% of the plastic in the oceans comes from activity on land. Where does that plastic come from? We can answer that in broad outline, but at the level of detail, it is more difficult,” she says. Almroth has a BS in marine biology from Long Island University and a PhD in zoophysiology from the University of Gothenburg.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
