World’s worst polluting countries could clean up ocean plastic by 77% by 2025

Stopping Ocean Plastics: An Agenda for Action

120
plastic
Edward Kosior, professor of Brunel University London

That’s the claim made in an exclusive report urging immediate action to step up waste management worldwide. It comes a year after David Attenborough’s BBC series, Blue Planet II, horrified the UK with powerful images of wildlife harmed and slayed by plastic pollution.

“We have no right to harm the lives of other creatures by allowing plastics to get into the ocean,” said Brunel University London Professor, Edward Kosior. Launching the report at Ocean Plastics Crisis Summit, Professor Kosior said, “This dire situation calls for strong and immediate action to slow the rate at which waste is produced. . . . We have to end this dig-use-discard mentality. Every package that’s made should be recyclable. There’s no excuse. It is a must for all.”

The report says caps on plastic waste and stamping out waste mismanagement by the top 10 polluting countries could cut ocean plastics by 77%. That would reduce yearly volume of plastic going into the oceans to 2.4 to 6.4 million tons by 2025. Speaking at London’s Royal Geographical Society, Professor Kosior, who runs recycling company Nextek, dubbed the UK’s export of plastics recycling to China ‘scandalous’ because it stops developing recycling here. Professor Kosior is also an environmental chemist and honorary professor at the Wolfson Centre for Materials Processing at Brunel University London. The report, ‘Stopping Ocean Plastics: An Agenda for Action’, is sponsored by Artists Project Earth and was launched at The Ocean Plastics Crisis Summit at London’s Royal Geographical Society.

“Developed countries need to invest in developing countries with global support from the UN,” he said, to help poorer countries better manage their waste. Calling for ‘a paradigm shift in waste management,’ Professor Kosior added, “The global magnitude of the problem means it needs to be on the agendas of international leaders such as the G20 summits, UN Assembly and World Economic Forum.”

What the report says

Co-written by Irene Crescenzi, ‘Stopping Ocean Plastics: An Agenda for Action’ highlights how:
plastics use is growing in line with wealth; the biggest plastic leaking countries are China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Sri Lanka; the many international laws alreadyplastic there to stop plastic pollution are not upheld; richer countries need to pay to help poorer countries deal with plastic contamination; and, we need to cut out single-use plastics and incentivising collection and recycling.

The impact, resilience, and growth of responsible packaging in a wide region are daily chronicled by Packaging South Asia.

A multi-channel B2B publication and digital platform such as Packaging South Asia is always aware of the prospect of new beginnings and renewal. Its 16-year-old print monthly, based in New Delhi, India has demonstrated its commitment to progress and growth. The Indian and Asian packaging industries have shown resilience in the face of ongoing challenges over the past three years.

As we present our publishing plan for 2023, India’s real GDP growth for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 will reach 6.3%. Packaging industry growth has exceeded GDP growth even when allowing for inflation in the past three years.

The capacity for flexible film manufacturing in India increased by 33% over the past three years. With orders in place, we expect another 33% capacity addition from 2023 to 2025. Capacities in monocartons, corrugation, aseptic liquid packaging, and labels have grown similarly. The numbers are positive for most of the economies in the region – our platform increasingly reaches and influences these.

Even given the disruptions of supply chains, raw material prices, and the challenge of responsible and sustainable packaging, packaging in all its creative forms and purposes has significant headroom to grow in India and Asia. Our context and coverage engulf the entire packaging supply chain – from concept to shelf and further – to waste collection and recycling. We target brand owners, product managers, raw material suppliers, packaging designers and converters, and recyclers.

In an admittedly fragmented and textured terrain, this is the right time to plan your participation and marketing support communication – in our impactful and highly targeted business platform. Tell us what you need. Speak and write to our editorial and advertising teams! For advertisement ads1@ippgroup.in , for editorial info@ippgroup.in and for subscriptions subscription@ippgroup.in

– Naresh Khanna

Subscribe Now
unnamed 1

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our Newsletter

As 2023 begins and FY 23-24 unfolds, will you support us?

What lies in store for the packaging industry in India and South Asia this coming year? Inflation, disruption of supply chains or environmental regulation? Or the resumption of high rural demand, continued investment and industry consolidation? Whatever happens, Packaging South Asia will be there, providing clarity and independent technical and business information in India and South Asia and around the world. We are a compact Indian organization bringing a window of fair and rigorous technical and business information that the industry can access this year and beyond. Please support us with your advertising and subscriptions, to keep us going and growing.

Thank you.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here