The plastic pollution will reach alarming dimensions in the next 15 years.
Without drastic changes, 280 million metric tons of plastic waste will enter the air, water, soil, and human bodies each year by 2040.
This is revealed by a new international report conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts, titled “Breaking the Plastic Wave 2025”.
This figure represents more than double the 130 million tons that currently pollute the planet year by year.
A garbage truck per second
The report, developed by The Pew Charitable Trusts in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, projects a critical scenario.
By 2040, the world will be dumping into the environment the equivalent of almost a garbage truck per second.
This environmental collapse will be driven by an excessive production of virgin plastic, which will grow by 52%.
The global waste management capacity will be surpassed twice over by the production speed.
This new estimate is higher than the 2020 prediction, mainly due to the inclusion of data on plastics used in construction, transportation, and agriculture, not just in packaging and textiles.
Direct impact of plastic pollution on public health
“Plastic has been found throughout the human body and is increasingly linked to serious risks,” emphasized Winnie Lau, study leader at Pew.
Scientists have identified that there are about 16,000 different chemicals in plastics. Of these, 25% are possibly harmful to human health.
The chemicals used in plastics have been linked to:
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Asthma
- Decreased fertility
The study estimates that these diseases will increase by 75% by the year 2040.
This increase is largely due to the manufacturing of new polymers and the open-air burning of waste.
The health costs derived from these chemicals will likely reach 1.5 trillion dollars globally, according to the Pew report.
Tiny fragments of the material have been found in the most remote places on Earth and inside our brains.
The additional climate crisis
If the “global plastic system” were a country, by 2040 it would become the third nation with the highest greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
The projected emissions will increase by 58%, worsening the global climate crisis.
This situation arises as fossil fuel companies seek to convert more of their products into plastic.
This strategy emerges as the world moves away from burning fuels to limit global warming.
There are solutions available to plastic pollution, but not implemented
Despite the alarming diagnosis, experts assure that the necessary tools and technologies already exist. These would allow reducing plastic pollution by 83% by 2040.
The proposed solutions include reducing the production of virgin plastic, redesigning products for reuse, and massively strengthening waste management.
The potential benefits are significant: a 38% reduction in annual greenhouse gas emissions and a 54% decrease in negative health impacts.
An annual savings of 19 million dollars in collection costs is also projected. However, this requires abandoning incremental measures and opting for a total transformation of the system.
The report comes months after a global effort to establish a treaty governing the production and management of plastics collapsed.
The oil, gas, and chemical industries strongly pressured against limiting plastic production.
