Plastic waste is suffocating our planet. But breaking the wave of pollution that is about to overwhelm us still seems possible, according to a modeling study published Thursday, July 23 in the review Science, which looks at the impact that our efforts could have on global plastic releases by 2040.
In particular, it reveals that in the absence of a policy change, the quantities of plastic released into the environment each year could almost triple by 2040. But also that these could be reduced by nearly 80% thanks to the deployment a set of strategies aimed at limiting this pollution. Annual releases would then be 40% lower than those measured in 2016.
These strategies already exist and the challenge now is that they be implemented by everyone and everywhere. They combine lower plastic consumption, substitution with other materials such as paper, reuse and improved collection and recycling.
For Jean-François Ghiglione, CNRS research director at the Oceanological Observatory of Banyuls-sur-Mer (Pyrénées-Orientales), the results reported in this study – in which he did not take part – are “A great message of hope”, a ” breath of fresh air “. “Plastic pollution is today a major pollution, considered to be the marker of the Anthropocene: when our children and grandchildren look at our time in the different geological eras, they will know that we were at the era of plastic ”, he laments.
Or, “This study is the first to show that reducing plastic pollution by 80% is possible, simply with our current knowledge, he rejoices. If we succeeded, it is a real challenge for humanity that would be taken up, because today, we do not face our waste at all. “
Lack of a real globle and concrete strategy
This unpublished work, published together with a report intended for the general public and for decision-makers and entitled ” Breaking the Plastic Wave Was produced by a panel of seventeen international experts with varied skills in the field of plastics and microplastics, who met at regular intervals in 2018 and 2019 in the framework of working groups and plenary sessions. Funding was provided by the American non-governmental organization The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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