The production of plastic and plastic waste will increase significantly by 2060, despite the fact that strict regulatory measures have been taken globally, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned today.
If nothing is done, the production of plastic will almost triple compared to 2019, going from 460 million tons to 1,231 million tons, while the corresponding increase in the volume of plastic waste will be from 353 million tons to 1,014 million tons, according to the report on “Global Plastics Perspectives: 2060 Action Scenarios”.
The United Nations began negotiations in early March on a global agreement against plastic pollution, a scourge that threatens the environment and affects biodiversity. But the relevant text is not expected before 2024.
Hundreds of millions of tons of plastics produced each year that break down into microplastics are found in the oceans, ice, the human body, animals and even air samples taken from mountain tops.
The OECD considered two scenarios with enhanced measures for the entire life cycle of plastics (production, use, recycling or disposal).
The first “regional action” scenario envisages different countries making different commitments, with the richer OECD countries adopting more ambitious measures. The second scenario, “global ambition”, envisages “a set of very strict measures to reduce plastic waste worldwide with the aim of almost eliminating them by 2060”.
But even under these scenarios, the use of plastics and waste generation will increase significantly. There will be a decrease in relation to the levels of 2019 the volume of waste whose treatment is not correct and that of waste that ends up as it is in nature.
However, if nothing is done, the volume of plastics concentrated in water resources will triple in rivers and lakes and almost fivefold in the oceans.
The OECD also estimated that both plastic reduction scenarios could be implemented “at a relatively low cost relative to GDP” of countries.
Source: Capital
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