A new study says the world produces 57 million tonnes of plastic pollution every year, ranging from the depths of the ocean to the highest mountain peaks and even inside people, with more than two-thirds of it coming from countries in the Global South.
The annual pollution is about 52 million tonnes, enough to fill New York City’s Central Park with plastic trash the height of the Empire State Building, according to researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK. In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, the researchers looked at local-level waste generation in more than 50,000 cities and towns around the world.
The study looked at plastic dumped in the open, not plastic that was dumped in landfills or properly incinerated. For 15 percent of the world’s population, governments fail to collect and dispose of waste, which the study authors say is a big reason why Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa produce the most plastic waste. This includes India’s 255 million people, the study said.
According to study author Costas Bellis, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Leeds, Lagos in Nigeria produces more plastic pollution than any other city, including New Delhi, Luanda in Angola, Karachi in Pakistan and Al Qahira in Egypt.
India is the world’s largest producer of plastic pollution, emitting 10.2 million tons (9.3 million metric tons) per year, more than double the amount produced by the next biggest polluters, Nigeria and Indonesia. China, often demonized for pollution, comes in fourth, but has made great strides in reducing waste, Bellis said. Other top plastic polluters are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and Brazil. These eight countries account for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, according to the study’s data.
FILE – Municipal workers remove floating trash from the Negro River after it was swollen due to rain, in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, June 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros, File)
The study found that the US ranked 90th with more than 52,500 tonnes (47,600 metric tons) of plastic pollution, while the UK ranked 135th with nearly 5,100 tonnes (4,600 metric tons).
In 2022, most countries around the world have agreed to sign the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the oceans. Treaty negotiations It will be held in South Korea in November.
The study used artificial intelligence to focus on plastic that was either improperly incinerated (about 57% of the pollution) or simply dumped. In both cases, it’s the very tiny microplastics, or nanoplastics, that are causing the problem. Visual nuisance and marine life problems on beaches Vélis said it could pose a threat to human health.
FILE – A volunteer at a Plastic Cup event stands on top of a pile of trash collected that day near Tiszarov, Hungary, Aug. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
Several studies this year have looked at just how prevalent microplastics are. in our drinking water And in human tissue, heart, brain and TesticlesTogether with doctors and scientists I still don’t know what that means in terms of threats to human health.
“The big time bomb for microplastics is the microplastics that have been released mainly in the Southern Hemisphere,” Bellis said. “We already have a big proliferation problem. They’re in the most remote areas… The summit of Mount Everest,of Mariana Trench It’s in the oceans, it’s in what we breathe, it’s in what we eat, it’s in what we drink.”
He called it “everyone’s issue” and one that will affect future generations.
“We should never place any responsibility on the Global South,” Vélis said, “and we should never praise the Global North for what we do.”
FILE – A volunteer picks up trash in a garbage-covered river in Pecatu, Bali, Indonesia, March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, File)
Vélis said the government simply lacks the resources and capacity to provide essential services to its citizens.
Outside experts worry that because the study focuses on pollution rather than overall production, it could allow the plastics industry to avoid responsibility. Large amounts of greenhouse gases Contribute Climate Change.
“They’re defining plastic pollution much more narrowly as just macroplastics that are released into the environment after consumers, and there’s a danger that they’ll lose their focus upstream and end up saying all we need now is better management of our waste,” said Neil Tangri, senior director of science and policy at GAIA, a global network of advocacy groups working on zero waste and environmental justice efforts. “That’s necessary, but it’s not everything.”
Theresa Carlson, science and technology adviser to the International Pollutant Elimination Network, another coalition of advocacy groups on environmental, health and waste issues, said the amount of contamination identified in the study is “alarming” and shows the amount of plastic currently being produced is “out of control.”
But Karlsson said the study overlooks the importance of the global plastic waste trade, where rich countries send plastic waste to poorer countries. The study said plastic waste trade has fallen since China banned waste imports. But Karlsson said overall waste trade has actually increased, and plastics are likely growing with it. She gave the example of EU waste exports growing from 110,000 tonnes (100,000 metric tons) in 2004 to 1.4 million tonnes (1.3 million metric tons) in 2021.
FILE – Nina Gomez collects discarded plastic bags from the ocean near Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado, File)
Bellis said the amount of plastic waste traded is small. Kara Lavender-Law, a professor of oceanography at the Marine Education Institute who was not involved in the study, agreed, based on trends in plastic waste in the U.S. She said the study is one of the most comprehensive on plastic waste.
Plastics industry officials praised the study.
“This study highlights that uncollected and unmanaged plastic waste is the largest source of plastic pollution and that prioritizing proper waste management is critical to ending plastic pollution,” Chris Jahn, executive director of the International Council of Chemical Associations, said in a statement. In treaty negotiations, the industry has opposed caps on plastic production.
united nations Plastic Production Project “The planet is being suffocated with plastic,” it said, adding that this could increase from about 440 million tons (400 million metric tons) per year to more than 1.2 billion tons (1.1 billion metric tons).
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Jennifer McDermott contributed from Providence, Rhode Island.
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