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The amount of plastic waste
produced since the 1950's
as it has not been burned or recycled
is around 49 billion tons
This could all have been
dumped into a 17 meter
deep landfill the size of Manhattan
While much of it has
indeed ended up in landfill
around the world far
too much of it has found
it's way into the natural environment
With around 10 million tons a
year ending up in the ocean
Over half of all plastic is used
just once and then thrown away
Taking hundreds of years to decompose
Apart from the preception
that plastic waste
is ugly and unnatural
it has also been known
to harm marine animals
And exposed to salt
water and sunlight it can
fragment into micro plastics
which some people fear can poison sea life
and humans who subsequently consume it
But is it as big an environmental problem
as the plastic panic across
the rich worlds suggests
Plastics account for just
10% of the 13 billion tons
of waste produced globally every year
Air pollution is blamed
for seven million deaths
per year world wide
Ocean acidification
the results of man made
carbon dioxide omissions is
disastrous for coral reefs
and many other forms of sea life
In any case efforts are being
made to improve the situation
or at least lessen the impact of plastic
In 2008 Rwanda introduced strict laws
banning plastic bags and many countries
have since followed with
similar initiatives
In December 2017 193 countries
committed to a UN plan
to stop plastic waste entering the ocean
To eliminate plastic
waste reaching the natural
environment it must first be collected
In developed countries
virtually all of it tis
But five countries in Asia
are dumping more plastic
into the oceans than the
rest of the world combined
If the world wants to
tackle plastic pollution
then it should first
concentrate it's efforts
on the biggest culprits in Southeast Asia
Until it does all other efforts
will be a drop in the ocean
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Video info
VocabularyPlastic pollution: is it really that bad? | The Economist
Nine in ten Europeans worry about plastic’s impact on the environment. But plastic is not the worst offender when compared to other kinds of pollution
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