There will be More Plastic in the Ocean than Fish by 2050
By the year 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish
Plastic – the Largest Cause of Marine Pollution
Experts at a moot described mismanagement of plastic waste as the main hindrance to recycling and the largest cause of pollution of rivers and oceans in the world.
The plastic waste that ended up in the ocean every year could be expected to double by 2025 and there would be more plastic therein than fish by 2050, they said.
5th International Conference on Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development-2018
They said this while speaking to participants of a three-day 5th International Conference on Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development-2018 (EESD-2018) held at the auditorium of US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro here on Wednesday, organized by the Energy Environmental Engineering Research Group (EEERG).
“Where there is no vision, the people perish,” said Ms Arvea Marieni, consultant of GCM Consulting, Germany, as keynote speaker.
How much time does plastic take to decompose?
“Fossil-based plastics are not biodegradable and stay in the environment for 450, up to 1,000 years. The plastic waste that ends up in the ocean every year is expected to double by 2025 and there would be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.
Some 18 billion pounds of plastic waste flows into the oceans annually from coastal regions.
Plastics are manufactured all over the world, but 50pc come from China and Asia,” she said.
Pakistan 7th amongst top 10 Water Insecure Countries
World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) regional manager Dr. Babar Khan said that Pakistan stood at the seventh number amongst top 10 water insecure countries, while 18 million people lacked access to clean drinking water.
The head of College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University Australia, Prof Dr. Akhtar Kalam, said if there was going to be World War III, it would be due to the environment in general including three reasons — water, food, and energy. Pakistan is facing a shortage of all of them.
Effective Management and Recycling of Plastic Waste
Globally mandatory initiatives towards a circular economy are necessary to establish common rules-cum-sanctions for effective management and recycling of plastic waste and promote and support the development and use of alternative biodegradable and compostable plastics.
A plastic recycling supply chain required a collection of plastic waste, including trays, tubs, pots, films, and wrappers.
- Coca-Cola, the biggest producer of plastic bottles in the world, was committed to “collect and recycle the equivalent of” 100 percent of its packaging by 2030
- Other multinational companies like PepesiCo, Amcor, Unilever had pledged to convert to 100pc reusable recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
- Tetra Pak, the largest food packaging company, set the goal to recycle (mixed layer products) equivalent to minimum 90 billion packages.
Courtesy
DAWN
