Beat plastic pollution

Environment Tackling plastic pollution: ‘We can't recycle our way out of this’ The second meeting on a possible international treaty on plastic pollution takes place this week at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Recycling is often touted as a solution to reducing plastic waste, but recent studies show the process poses its own risks and is no match for soaring plastic production. Read more The scale of plastic ago, reaching 353 million tonnes in 2019, according to OECD figures. The vast majority goes into landfills, gets incinerated or is “mismanaged”, meaning Just 9 percent of plastic waste is recycled. Ramping up plastic recycling might seem like a logical way to transform resource. But recent studies suggest that recycling plastic poses its own environmental and health risks, including the high levels of microplastics and harmful toxins produced by the recycling process that can be dangerous for people, Microplastics “We found pretty scary amounts, to be honest,” said plastics scientist Erina Brown, lead author of a research paper into the microplastic run-off produced by recycling centres, published in May 2023. The UK recycling centre at which Brown based her studies used large amounts of water (common practice in the recycling industry) to sort, shred and separate plastics before they were compounded and turned into pellets for resale. Her research tested the rate of microplastics – plastic particles up to 5mm in size – released into the water through the process. “Ther...

The Environment week started off with a two-day Seminar with the theme "Beat Plastic Pollution. The United Nations Development Programme supported the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environment (ROM) that brought together diverse stakeholders to address a critical global concern: plastic pollution. The week-long activities held during this Environment week aim to raise awareness and inspire collective action towards a sustainable future. Plastic pollution has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Every year, an astonishing 300 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide, with approximately 11 million tons ending up in our lakes, rivers, and oceans. Unless immediate action is taken, these figures are projected to triple within the next two decades. Suriname, like many other countries, faces the consequences of plastic pollution, generating a significant 20,309 tons of plastic waste in 2020 alone. Recognizing the urgency of the issue, the Ministry of ROM initiated the Koni Doti project, which focuses on waste separation at the source to combat plastic pollution. However, the scale of the problem necessitates a collective effort involving governments, businesses, civil society organizations, and individuals. Environment Week 2023 highlights the shared responsibility we all bear in addressing plastic pollution. partial view of the participants in the event Ms. Margaret Jones Williams, Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP, highlighted during her...

ENVIRONMENT Planet or plastic? Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit. Click to enlarge! Plastic bottles are one of the most widely recycled products, but other items, such as drinking straws, are harder to recycle and often discarded. Illustration by Jason Treat, National Geographic Discussion Ideas • 1. Straws Suck: Help your kids swap out the disposable straws by allowing them to choose a colorful, reusable straw. • What are alternatives to single-use plastic drinking straws? • Take it to school: • 2. Keep It in a Cone: At the ice-cream shop, always choose an edible cone over a cup with a plastic spoon. • What other hand-held snacks (or beverages) use unnecessary plastics? • Take it to school: • 3. A Better Birthday Bag: As birthdays approach, rethink the throwaway goodies in goodie bags. • What do students put in their goodie bags? What are alternatives to disposable plastic toys? • Take it to school: • 4. That’s a Wrap: When your kids want something, help them brainstorm ways to avoid the excess plastic packaging. • Have your students make a list the next time they visit their local supermarket or convenience store. What items have unnecessary plastic packaging? • Take it to school: • 5. A Leaner Lunch: Instead of packing your kids’ sandwiches in plastic bags, reach for reusable wrappers. • What snack foods use the least amount of packaging? • Take it to school: • 6. Don’t Float Away: If you’re planning a trip to the beach, mak...

Plastics are polluting our planet and choking our ocean, harming human health, and damaging ecosystems vital to our livelihoods. The UN Environment Programme is raising the alarm on the severity of the global plastics crisis and highlighting the networks of everyday people, coastal workers, and communities who are spearheading solutions to beat plastic pollution. More than 430 million tons of plastic are produced each year, two-thirds of which is cast aside as waste after just one use. Eleven million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean alone each year, in addition to the estimated 200 million metric tons that already flow through our marine environments, per data from the At the current rate of production, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by mid-century, according to Nikola Simpson, Head of the United Nations Development Programme’s Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Blue Economy Accelerator Lab. “We just keep producing, producing, producing plastic,” she says. The UN Environment Programme is determined to help the world avert such a catastrophic future. UNEP’s Here are five reasons why the world needs to beat plastic pollution — and how everyone can step up to protect our planet for generations to come. Microplastic pellets, shown here on a fingertip, are extremely small pieces of plastic debris found nearly everywhere in the environment, resulting from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste. Photo: Chayanuphol 1. Plastic is ...