Last October, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) published a *Global Assessment Report on Marine Waste and Plastic Pollution*. According to the report, plastic is the longest-lasting, harmful waste, accounting for more than 85 percent of all marine waste.
Marine waste and plastic pollution are growing rapidly, and the amount of plastic currently flowing into the sea is estimated to be between 7500 and 199 million tons, or 23 million to 37 million tons annually by 2040, meaning there are about 50 kilograms of plastic per meter of coastline around the world.
Marine microplastic pollution affects marine life (such as whales, seals, turtles, etc.), as well as plankton and coral, which can even affect the Earth's carbon circulation system. In particular, the report warns that cellulogic microfibers, toxic chemicals, and fine pollutants, which occur when plastic is decomposed in marine environments in coastal areas, mangroves, coral, and wetlands, are introduced into the water and deposited and have a chain effect on the marine food chain system.
Write a summary of some of the report's contents. Please refer to it. I have attached the link and materials at the bottom for details, so if you are interested, you can read them carefully.
Around Blue will also make more efforts day by day to develop eco-friendly materials that can solve environmental pollution.
toxicity
· Ecosystem destruction, marine animal death and suffering
· Person: Microplastics entering the body through air, food, water, and skin; microplastics detected in the placenta of the newborn as well as in the lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys of the human body
· Body inflow of plastic-related chemicals such as methylmercury, plasticizers and flame retardants, especially affecting women's health
· Induction of hazardous substances found in plastics such as bisphenol A, phthalate and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) into the body
· Associated with endocrine system disorders (environmental hormones), developmental disorders, reproductive abnormalities
and carcinogenicity
Plastics and the Climate Crisis
· Plastic is produced mainly from fossil fuels, oil and gas
· greenhouse gas emissions over the entire life cycle
Greenhouse gas emissions from plastics rose to 1.7 gigatons (GtCO2e) in 2015 and 6.5 gigatons (GtCO2e) by 2050, up to 15% of the global carbon budget (COP26 data in 2021)
· Greenhouse gas emissions from plastic production, recycling and incineration if no action is taken 19% of the total allowable emissions of the Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040
· Plastic damages the oceans, the largest carbon sinks on Earth, preventing them from functioning as carbon sinks (storing 90% of the carbon trapped in the ocean's atmosphere and 1/3 of the carbon dioxide produced after the Industrial Revolution)
solution! If we properly utilize the technologies and methods we already have, we can reduce 80% of plastic flowing into the sea over the next 20 years! Most of the solutions we need already exist.
· Global and Regional Convention on the Protection of the Sea
· National prohibition and regulation of disposable plastic products
· Business and government efforts to reduce plastic products and create redesign and reuse services
· Reduced total plastic production
From Pollution to Solution a global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution
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