Plastic Atlas
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Plastic is ubiquitous: we use it for life-saving medical devices, clothing, toys and cosmetics; we use it in agriculture and industry. But we also know the growing risk of plastic waste in the environment, landfills and the oceans.
For example, the amount of plastic that some fulmars accumulate in their stomachs during their lives is equivalent to 31 grams in humans - that would be a full plate. But although awareness of the negative consequences of plastic is growing, we are experiencing an unbroken boom in plastic production. 99 percent of the plastic is produced from fossil fuels; the climate-damaging emissions involved are enormous. And only nine percent of all plastic thrown away since 1950 has been recycled; instead, huge amounts of our plastic waste end up in dumps in Asian countries every day.
We have only just begun to understand the huge dimensions of this crisis. A change of course requires in-depth knowledge of the causes, interests, responsibilities and effects of the plastics crisis. The Plastics Atlas 2019 wants to offer exactly that in 19 chapters.
Product details
Table of contents
02 IMPRINT
06 INTRODUCTION
08 12 BRIEF LESSONS
ON PLASTIC AND THE PLANET
10 HISTORY
BREAKTHROUGH IN THREE LETTERS
The first plastics imitated ivory and silk and attracted just a limited market. Things took off after World War II with the rise of PVC. Cheap plastics soon conquered the world.
12 THROWAWAY CULTURE
WHY THE WORLD IS WALLOWING IN WASTE
Until the 1950s, people treated plastic with the same respect as they did glass or silk. Then consumer-goods companies discovered the advantages of polymers. A lifestyle emerged that generates increasing amounts of trash.
14 USAGE
BLESSING AND CURSE
Plastics have become indispensable. They are found in plastic bags, smartphones and car dashboards. But almost
half of all plastic products end up as waste within less than a month. Only a fraction is recycled.
16 HEALTH
FOOD CHEMISTRY
The effects of runaway plastic production on the environment
can no longer be ignored. Its consequences for
human health are less well known — from the extraction of
raw materials through to waste disposal.
18 GENDER
OVEREXPOSED
Women are more affected than men by plastics. Biological
reasons are part of the problem: their
bodies react in different
ways to toxins, and the hygiene products that women
use are often contaminated. But alternatives do exist.
20 FOOD
TASTY MORSELS
The food industry is a big user of plastic. Films and foams are meant to shield food from damage, keep it fresh, and make it look attractive. But beauty has a price: the plastic lands on fields and gets into our food system.
22 CLOTHING
WEARING THIN
At first sight, fabrics made from synthetic fibers have many advantages. They are cheap, dry quickly, and shape themselves to the body. But they have become disposable articles and contribute significantly to climate change. They may also be harmful to human health.
24 TOURISM
TURNING THE TIDE ON THE TIDE OF TRASH?
Sun-kissed beaches, swaying palm trees… and a knee-deep band of garbage at the water’s edge. Tourists come to see pristine beauty, but help destroy it through their carelessness, and because garbage systems cannot cope.
26 CLIMATE CHANGE
NOT GREEN, BUT GREENHOUSE
Plastics are sometimes seen as environmentally friendlier than other materials — not least because of their light weight. But the plastics boom is pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
28 WATER
ALL AT SEA?
Marine pollution is fed mainly by trash floating down rivers, like smog is fed by fires and smokestacks. But plastic does not stay long in the open ocean. It moves into shallower waters, sinks to the sea floor, or is washed ashore.
30 CORPORATIONS
BLAMING THE CONSUMER
Masters in lobbying, petrochemicals firms and plastic producers focus attention on waste management and recycling so they can evade their responsibility for the true problem: the growth in the volume of plastics being made.
32 AFFLUENCE
THE CHILD OF GLOBAL TRADE
Global economic growth since World War II would not have been possible without plastic. Plastics are both the result of globalization and a fuel that powers it. Online shopping is piling mounds of rubbish higher still.
34 “BIOPLASTICS”
REPLACING OIL WITH MAIZE IS NO SOLUTION
Plastics made from renewable raw materials are supposed to be environmentally friendly. They degrade more quickly — at least, according to their corporate backers. A close look shows that they create a new set of problems.
36 WASTE MANAGEMENT
WE CANNOT RECYCLE OUR WAY OUT OF THE PLASTIC CRISIS
It is a widespread misconception: as long as we separate our waste into different types, we do not have to change our consumption patterns. But the reality is different: a large proportion of plastic waste is not recycled, much of it incinerated or ends up in the environment.
38 WASTE EXPORTS
THE RUBBISH DUMP IS CLOSED
What to do with your unwanted plastic bottles and bags? Simple: send them somewhere else. Until recently, much of the developed world’s hard-to-recycle waste was shipped off to China. That is no longer an option.
40 WASTE PICKING
SCRAPS FROM THE TABLE
In many poor countries, waste pickers take over the tasks of the municipal garbage truck and waste-processing plants. They divert a significant amount of waste back into productive uses.
42 REGULATION
SOLUTIONS AT THE WRONG END
There is no lack of agreements and initiatives to manage the plastic crisis. But almost all address waste disposal only; they are not coordinated with each other, and they absolve manufacturers of their responsibilities.
44 CIVIL SOCIETY
HOW THE PLASTIC-FREE MOVEMENT IS EXPOSING THE GIANTS
The global Break Free From Plastic civil society movement is working to stop plastic pollution for good. It is using public exposure and transparency to put corporations under pressure.
46 ZERO WASTE
STOPPING THE PROBLEM AT THE SOURCE
Recycling alone cannot solve the plastic crisis. New ideas are needed that tackle the roots of the problem. A growing movement is showing how that can work — and a few pioneering cities and towns are blazing the trail.
48 LOCAL INTIATIVES
TOWARDS BANNING SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS IN TUNISIA
In order to fight the plastic pollution that Tunisia is experiencing given the increasing amount of plastic waste, a new governmental decree has been declared banning single-use plastic bags. This step was preceded by a series of procedures that paved the way for it, but the effectiveness of this decree is predicated on a strict implementation and a clear vision.
50 TUNISIA
TUNISIAN ISLANDS ARE SUFFOCATING WITH PLASTIC
Tunisia, with its sixty islands and islets overlooking the coast, suffers from a plastic plague that causes pollution
that looms as far as the eye can see.
52 ECO-LEF TUNISIA
PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT IN TUNISIA: TOWARDS A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Plastic, with its different sizes, presents an imminent threat to public health and one that is fatal for terrestrial and marine fauna and flora. The good management of plastic waste, which includes production, marketing, use, collection and recycling, is essentially linked to the economic policy, social aspects, and the environmental measures taken by the country.
54 ZERO MIKA OR THE DIFFICULTY IN GETTING RID OF PLASTIC BAGS IN MOROCCO
SOMETIMES, PASSING A LAW IS JUST NOT ENOUGH...
Four years after the ban on plastic bags in Morocco, one can notice that they are still used extensively. Efforts have been put into action to formalise this ban, but some of the approaches adopted since the law 77-15 was passed have had limited effects.
56 MOROCCO’S PLASTIC PLAGUE
A FORMAL SYSTEM… WITH INFORMAL CONNECTIONS
Plastic represents 10 percent of household waste in Morocco or around 690,000 tonnes a year. There is also a lot
of plastic found in industrial waste (granules, industrial packaging waste...) and in waste produced by the agricultural sector.
Yet, only a very small portion of this is recycled.
58 PALESTINE
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT UNDER OCCUPATION
Palestinians face many difficulties in solid waste management due to the policies of the occupation, but waste
amounts are increasing due to both population growth and consumption patterns. This calls for better management and a concerted effort among all sectors to find solutions to this problem.
61 JORDAN
GOVERNMENTAL MEASURES ARE LIMITED TO SOLID WASTE, ALBEIT SHY INITIATIVES FOR SORTING AND RECYCLING
In light of the absence of governmental plans and programs for waste management in Jordan, sorting and recycling processes for plastic waste are limited to individual initiatives by activists and environmental organizations. Solid waste rates have increased to about 1.662 million tons annually, despite the existence of legislations that regulate this process.
64 AUTHORS AND SOURCES FOR DATA AND GRAPHICS
66 ABOUT US