“The World Counts” on the
magnitude of trash the world generates generally: “Every year we dump a massive
2.12 billion tons of waste. If all this waste was put on trucks they would go around
the world 24 times”.
Already as I pen this post,
Friday, March 4, 2016 at 11. 15 am, the world has generated trash of over 368,
560, 000 tons.
In my last post I penned on the
suggested quantum of plastic floating on the oceans. The post indicated that
there were 5.25 trillion particles of floating plastic waste weighing 269,000
tons based on a six year survey up to 2013.
But then how much of plastic is
being dumped into the ocean or how much plastic is there in the oceans? For a
long time people have sought an answer to this question. While the question was
being asked, the experts were working on it.
The findings by the experts are
mind-blowing. It was a research made by the coordination of contributions from
experts from the fields of waste management, oceanography and plastics science.
The research said that 4.8
million metric tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year. It is
indicated that the amount could be as high as 12.7 million metric tons.
How come so much plastic waste in
the oceans? Starting from the industrial revolution steady progressive
accelerated development, growth and prosperity has taken place on planet Earth
as a whole, with the Earth’s natural resources as the source of that
development. However, these activities by man to satisfy their needs has not
been done sustainably and in a clean manner, creating an imbalance in the
natural environment. A product of the process is plastic which has become a
mainstay of our modern culture.
It should start with the
production of plastic. The production of plastic itself derived from the need
for plastic products for packaging; from confectionary industries to medical
industries. Domestically there is the need for plastic plates, plastic cutlery,
plastic pails, hose etc. Plastic appears to have permeated every fabric of our
society today. In hospitals plastics are used- today plastic is used to make
medicated spectacles instead of glass.
In sports plastics are used. In the fashion industries plastics are
used. Plastics are used in the food industries. Why? They are widely used
because they are cheap, light, recyclable and malleable.
Plastic is used in wrapping
laundry and toilet soap. Plastic is used in bagging powdered soap. Plastics are
used in wrapping sweets. Plastic bottles are used for disinfectants and
antiseptics. The tubes that bring potable water into our homes are made of
plastic. Toilet tissues are wrapped in plastic. Automobiles you drive have
plastic parts. One could go on and on.
“Plastics are a 21st
century material driving the development of pioneering innovations to meet
society’s biggest challenges. They help improve resource efficiency with
smarter, more efficient and sustainable use of natural resources”-
PlasticsEurope Report, Plastics the Facts- 2012(Introduction).
Because plastic waste which
results from plastic use has not been managed properly, it finds its way into
the oceans. The oceans together are regarded as a kitchen sink. It is
misconceived that the oceans are vast enough to accommodate waste that enters
them. Measuring the vastness of the
oceans, It is said that there are 5 hectares of ocean for each living person.
The top countries producing plastic
on planet Earth include United States of America, Germany, France and China.
Of the 4.8 million metric tons to
12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste entering the oceans, just five countries
in the world account for 60% of it. The countries are China, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Vietnam. The reasons are fast rate of economic growth, consumerism and weak waste management system.
Let me state again that plastic
has its good uses for the society but it is the disposal of the waste that
results from its use is what is causing its leak into the oceans. Plastic waste
that goes into the oceans is waste that is lying about uncollected. That is one
way plastic waste finds itself in the oceans. The other way is plastic waste
escaping from the waste management system itself.
The waste lying about uncollected
is plastic waste dropped about by people, which are blown into open gutters.
Some of the plastic wastes are dropped directly into the open gutters. I know
this for a fact because it happens to the gutter in front of the house I live
in. When school kids close from school, they drop plastic waste into the open
gutter. Adults drop plastic waste into the gutter too. These find their way
into the ocean when it rains. Some refuse dumps are sited right on the beaches
and when the wind blows or at high tide plastic waste finds its way into the
ocean. There many more refuse dumps that are illegally sited. The legal
management system itself has problems of inadequate infrastructure and tools
which appears to allow for the citing of such illegal sites. The legal
management system lacks sufficient landfill sites or are not properly sited,
weak monitoring system and insufficient trucks to go round.
With the second one, some of the
trucks conveying refuse are open so when they are driving around sometimes the
wind blows some waste from the trucks leaving them behind to eventually find
their way into the oceans.
I am making the foregoing
statements as what I have observed personally as a Ghanaian. Some of them I
have stated more than once in my previous posts.
A United Nations report says 80 %
of trash in the oceans come from land, and 20 % from fishing and oil
activities.
When plastic trash enters the
oceans they adversely affect the ecosystem and food chain. Fish in the ocean
swallow them up causing problems for them. Some of the fish come to our tables
with plastic in them.
What then should be the way out?
Generally speaking since much of
the plastic trash come from land, ways must be found to block them from
entering the oceans in the first place. More noise should be made about the
dangers of littering the environment with plastic waste.
One way out of the mess is
recycling of plastic trash. A company in
the USA doing well in this area is PK Clean. PK Clean turns plastic waste into
energy. They say “Waste is a terrible thing to waste”. As of April, 2014, when
running at full capacity, the company turns 20,000 pounds of plastic waste into
2,500 gallons of fuel.
In Ghana people go around
collecting water sachet dropped after water has been drunk. The water sachet
are given to companies which recycle it.
A company in Ghana collects water
sachets and turn them into fashionable bags. They call the bags trashy bags or
so.
In conclusion, amount of plastic
trash entering the oceans is unacceptable. To a large extent people do not know
the amount of plastic trash in the oceans and the harm it is doing to the
oceans. It shows yet again that man is destroying the very environment that
support their lives. However, research is showing that dumping of trash into
the oceans is at dangerous level. The way out is to continue to make noise
about it as this post for one is doing, to galvanize people even more to use
plastic responsibly and sustainably for a clean and sustainable natural
environment.
Reference:
http://www.theworldcounts.com/counters/shocking_environmental_facts_and_statistics/world_waste_facts
http://www.inc.com/audacious-companies/jill-krasny/pk-clean.html
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