World Creates 57 Million Tons PLASTIC Pollution Waste A Year; Fill Central Pk High as Emp State Bldg
The world is pumping out 57 million tons of plastic pollution a year, AP, Yahoo, 9.4.24. Edit.
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🥤The world creates 57 million tons of plastic pollution every year and spreads it from the deepest oceans to the highest mountaintop to the inside of people's bodies, according to a new study that also said more than 2/3rds of it comes from the Global South. It's enough pollution each year - about 52 million metric tons - to fill New York City’s Central Park with plastic waste as high as the Empire State Building, according to researchers at the Univ. of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
They examined waste produced on the local level at more than 50,000 cities and towns across the world for a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature. The study examined plastic that goes into the open environment, not plastic that goes into landfills or is properly burned. For 15% of the world's population, government fails to collect and dispose of waste, the study's authors said- a big reason Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa produce the most plastic waste. That includes 255 million people in India, the study said. 🌏
Lagos, Nigeria, emitted the most plastic pollution of any city, according to study author Costas Velis, a Leeds environmental engineering professor. The other biggest plastic polluting cities are New Delhi; Luanda, Angola; Karachi, Pakistan and Al Qahirah, Egypt. India leads the world in generating plastic pollution, producing 10.2 million tons a year (9.3 million metric tons), far more than double the next big-polluting nations, Nigeria and Indonesia. China, often villainized for pollution, ranks 4th but is making tremendous strides in reducing waste, Velis said.
Other top plastic polluters are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and Brazil. Those 8 nations are responsible for more than half of the globe's plastic pollution.
The U.S. ranks 90th in plastic pollution with more than 52,500 tons and the UK ranks 135th with nearly 5,100 tons.
In 2022, most of the world’s nations agreed to make the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution. Final treaty negotiations take place in South Korea in Nov. Several studies this year have looked at how prevalent microplastics are in our drinking water and in people's tissue, such as hearts, brains and testicles. Velis called it “everybody's problem,” one that will haunt future generations. Outside experts worried that the study's focus on pollution, rather than production, lets the plastics industry off the hook. Making plastics emits large amounts of greenhouse gas that contribute to climate change... - Read More,
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-pumps-57-million-tons-150753027.html