COVID-19: Resource recovery from plastic waste against plastic pollution

Marine pollution. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean.

Plastic debris in the marine environment is widely documented, but the quantity of plastic entering the ocean from waste generated on land is unknown. By linking worldwide data on solid waste, population density, and economic status, we estimated the mass of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean. We calculate that 275 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal ...

Managing Marine Plastic Pollution: Policy Initiatives to Address Wayward Waste

Beyond plastic waste

ith more than 8 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year, humanity must urgently rethink the way we make and use plastics, so that they do not become waste in the first place. Cheap, light, and versatile, plastics are the dominant materials of our modern economy. Their production is expected to double over the next two decades. Yet, only 14% of all plastic packaging is collected for...

Oceans of plastic waste

Net gain: The schooner Tara, on an expedition around the Mediterranean to monitor microplastic pollution, drags a so-called manta net to collect floating debris. (Photo © A. Deniaud Garcia Tara Expéditions.) The research vessel Tara, a schooner built for marine and polar research, spent seven months of the last year cruising the Mediterranean Sea on an expedition to collect an unglamorous mater...

Beyond plastic waste

ith more than 8 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year, humanity must urgently rethink the way we make and use plastics, so that they do not become waste in the first place. Cheap, light, and versatile, plastics are the dominant materials of our modern economy. Their production is expected to double over the next two decades. Yet, only 14% of all plastic packaging is collected for...