A million plastic bottles a minute

nivek

As Above So Below
A million bottles a minute: world's plastic binge 'as dangerous as climate change'

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A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change. New figures obtained by the Guardian reveal the surge in usage of plastic bottles, more than half a trillion of which will be sold annually by the end of the decade.

The demand, equivalent to about 20,000 bottles being bought every second, is driven by an apparently insatiable desire for bottled water and the spread of a western, urbanised “on the go” culture to China and the Asia Pacific region.

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More than 480bn plastic drinking bottles were sold in 2016 across the world, up from about 300bn a decade ago. If placed end to end, they would extend more than halfway to the sun. By 2021 this will increase to 583.3bn, according to the most up-to-date estimates from Euromonitor International’s global packaging trends report.

Most plastic bottles used for soft drinks and water are made from polyethylene terephthalate (Pet), which is highly recyclable. But as their use soars across the globe, efforts to collect and recycle the bottles to keep them from polluting the oceans, are failing to keep up.

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Between 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world’s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Experts warn that some of it is already finding its way into the human food chain.

Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium recently calculated people who eat seafood ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic every year. Last August, the results of a study by Plymouth University reported plastic was found in a third of UK-caught fish, including cod, haddock, mackerel and shellfish. Last year, the European Food Safety Authority called for urgent research, citing increasing concern for human health and food safety “given the potential for microplastic pollution in edible tissues of commercial fish”.

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Another study of remote Arctic beaches found they were also heavily polluted with plastic, despite small local populations. And earlier this week scientists warned that plastic bottles and other packaging are overrunning some of the UK’s most beautiful beaches and remote coastline, endangering wildlife from basking sharks to puffins.

The majority of plastic bottles used across the globe are for drinking water, , according to Rosemary Downey, head of packaging at Euromonitor and one of the world’s experts in plastic bottle production.

China is responsible for most of the increase in demand. The Chinese public’s consumption of bottled water accounted for nearly a quarter of global demand, she said.

“It is a critical country to understand when examining global sales of plastic Pet bottles, and China’s requirement for plastic bottles continues to expand,” said Downey.

In 2015, consumers in China purchased 68.4bn bottles of water and in 2016 this increased to 73.8bn bottles, up 5.4bn.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
This is serious and a total disgrace, something must be done even if we are at the point of no return...
 

Ras

Honorable
Wow thats alot, they could melt those plastic bottles and make shoes or something.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
 

dr wu

Noble
Oh nothing to worry about...the Republicons say we aren't affecting the planet or the climate in any way......nothing to see here...move along.



;)
 

CasualBystander

Celestial
Well...


I'm sort of for tossing plastic in the ocean because it adds carbon to the environment and ultimately raises the CO2 level.

I am outraged that anyone would try to stop the necessary increase in the CO2 level. But sure enough there are anti-science warmunists who want to do exactly that.

I would like to see a CO2 level of 500-600 PPM and this is a backdoor way to get there.

DOE Secretary Rick Perry: “Resiliency Pricing Rule” for Coal-fired and Nuclear Power Plants
Fortunately it looks like they are going to save coal fired generation in the US, so maybe dumping plastic in the ocean isn't all that necessary.
 

michael59

Celestial
Well...


I'm sort of for tossing plastic in the ocean because it adds carbon to the environment and ultimately raises the CO2 level.

I am outraged that anyone would try to stop the necessary increase in the CO2 level. But sure enough there are anti-science warmunists who want to do exactly that.

I would like to see a CO2 level of 500-600 PPM and this is a backdoor way to get there.

DOE Secretary Rick Perry: “Resiliency Pricing Rule” for Coal-fired and Nuclear Power Plants
Fortunately it looks like they are going to save coal fired generation in the US, so maybe dumping plastic in the ocean isn't all that necessary.

It's been a while since I've read some of your postings, CasualByStander. I can't tell if you're serious or joking. lol
 

CasualBystander

Celestial
It's been a while since I've read some of your postings, CasualByStander. I can't tell if you're serious or joking. lol

Well... sometimes I'm not sure either.

Ocean Garbage Patch Is Mysteriously Disappearing

The linear extrapolation of plastic in the ocean is just so much mature.

Scientists who went looking for it found thousands of tons, not millions of tons.

It is disappearing. Where exactly it is going is somewhat of a mystery. The plastics were designed to decompose and that appears to be what is happening perhaps with some bacterial help.

Eventually some hybridized bacteria is going to emerge for this new food source and a plastic bottle tossed into the ocean will almost disappear as you watch.
 

CasualBystander

Celestial
Just hilarious. What timescale are you using for your rant. Century ? LMAO
Biodegradable* PET & PETG Polymer Additive

There have been a lot of initiatives to add starch or other elements to plastic to make them degrade faster. They have been researching this for about two decades. From the rah-rah press I thought they had done something. If you have left plastic out in the sun you know UV does a number on many plastics.

However, it looks like for PET (polyester) which is used for clothing, carpet, and most bottles they are in recycling mode.

Don't see any signs they are going the one use path. They could.

This is the conundrum. A lot of oil is plowed into plastic. Reuse makes sense, but then you are going to have toss aways thrown in the ocean.

However there are bacteria in landfills and the ocean that have developed a taste for it. So I guess it isn't much problem either way.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
That's terrible, Islands of junk floating around the oceans. Shame shame.

It's awful and this is just the plastic bottles we're discussing here, what about all the plastic bags and tons of plastic wrappers that go unrecycled?...
 

nivek

As Above So Below

3FEL9

Islander
Is recycling not done in the Americas at all ?

What about Asia and Australia..

Well. I have very good tap water here. I Never
buy any PET bottles anymore, anyways...
 

August

Metanoia
It's awful and this is just the plastic bottles we're discussing here, what about all the plastic bags and tons of plastic wrappers that go unrecycled?...

They recycle here but the whistle was blown on the recyclers as they are just picking it up and dumping it at the tip as the plastic and glass is not economical to recycle anymore. I stopped using my recycling bin as its just all going to the local garbage dump. Again shame on them all.
 

August

Metanoia
Is recycling not done in the Americas at all ?

What about Asia and Australia..

Well. I have very good tap water here. I Never
buy any PET bottles anymore, anyways...

We in Australia have mountains of glass and plastic just sitting around after being recycled they are not getting the money for it these days they say and are just burying it at refuse dumps. What a waste. Watch this video it gives you the goss for recycling in Australia for 2017 its an eye opener.
 
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