Cutting plastic pollution by 80% by 2040
Visuals for the podcast I just published on Callin. Careful, this might be a bit of a rant.
I just did a podcast on a WEF article on reducing plastic pollution [back to edit: the podcast no longer exists - it got deleted when Callin was sold]. Since it might be useful to have the visuals ready at hand, I’ve decided to write a quick newsletter on the subject. This will be shorter than the podcast and mainly for the visuals.
Initial article
This was the article that drew my attention, and I started my podcast by talking about these number or “reductions”. Please note that in 2016 we were at around 230 million metric tons of plastic waste per year. If we continue in a BAU (business as usual) fashion, we will reach 420 million metric tons of plastic per year by 2040. I would argue that it’s at least that, but we’ll go with this study for now.
I failed to see an 80 percent reduction of anything here. If we take away the reduce and substitute categories, we might manage to stay at around the same level we were at in 2016, but that’s about it.
Turning off the tap
Still in the same article there’s also talk of three necessary market shifts. This is expanded on or rather taken from the Turning off the tap report that I read next
What I like about this is that it bookends the changes with policy and regulatory frameworks. These are key. Without them no changes will ever happen. Looking at the state of politics today this is not the best news. This was only for context. I kept digging.
The original report. Breaking the Plastic Wave: Top Findings for Preventing Plastic Pollution
I then went on to the original report and finally figured out what these 80 percent were. First, they only looked at what they considered mismanaged plastic waste. I have pretty strong opinions about landfills – even though or maybe because we don’t have any in Switzerland. But that’s a different story.
Would you like to know where they got the 80 percent “reduction”. Bear with me. So, we’re taking the 239 million metric tons of mismanaged waste that’s projected for 2040 and we decide that we want to reduce that to 44 million metric tons (see first graphic). If my math is correct 44 are 18.4 percent of 239. Calling this an 80 percent reduction might make sense to people who deal with these projections on a daily basis, but from where I stand that’s NOT an 80 percent reduction.
It's basically just us not screwing up as badly as we have done in the past and finally starting to pay attention. Sounds better if we call it a reduction. I mean if we only looked at mismanaged plastic waste in 2016 (91 mmt) and what we would like to achieve by 2040 (44 mmt) that would be an actual reduction and still a pretty decent one. Why not do the responsible thing and say “we can half the total of mismanaged plastic waste by 2040 – here’s how”.
We won’t get very far with misleading projections like these. I have a few questions.
Are these reports or articles only for people who deal with scenarios and projections on a regular basis?
Are they the ones that are going to solve all those problems on their own?
Or do we maybe need everybody on board? Do policy makers get these fake reduction reports and act on them?
It can’t be that I need to download a 88-page report and another 154-page report to have enough information to understand a simple graphic that is supposed to show an 80 percent reduction. We seriously need to do better than this. I’m all for summaries and short articles on topics, but the graphics stand alone ones. They seriously do! Isn’t that like journalism 101? This graphic might have worked better. It’s also from the original Pewtrusts report.
I hope this helps anybody who listened to the podcast. And there might be some interesting information in there for those who didn’t or don’t want to listen to a podcast.
Notes:
Podcast: Ep. 27 - Cutting plastic pollution by 80% by 2040 | Knowledge builds bridges (callin.com)
[back to edit: the podcast no longer exists - it got deleted when Callin was sold].
Initial article: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/06/reduce-plastic-pollution-unep/
UNEP report: https://www.unep.org/resources/turning-off-tap-end-plastic-pollution-create-circular-economy
Original report: https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2020/10/breakingtheplasticwave_mainreport.pdf
Not mentioned, but potentially interesting: https://www.reuseportal.org/home
In the podcast, but not in this article: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/06/plastic-waste-pollution-solve-recycling
Great podcast; am reminded that my original interest in circular fashion sustainability was prompted all the way back to the UN Conference on Water 💦; deadline for conservation earlier ie by 2030. Due to enormous amounts of water used in manufacturing clothing now post pandemic updates almost weekly; throw away fashion! Deliberate “fast fashion” due to lifestyles changed by pandemic, working from home much of the time in USA. So many elements involved. Even the preferred use of longer wearing (lifetime) higher cost but fabric that is obtained from animal fur like wool is strong, attractive, desirable in cooler climates. Difficulty there is animal rights groups like PETA who point out rightfully so that using animals is unethical in practice as they are in pain and abused in the manner commonly used to farm the animals and shear the fibers. That MUST and could be changed. Glad Sharon joined the conversation. Many ideas but don’t know how to pull together just yet. Will start again; the need and interest is there. Many fashion designers already creating green designs, on market and ready. Stella McCartney for twenty years already. But I don’t think that many people are aware of complexities. Just get dressed and go about their day. Anyway, rant well done!
Sharon’s point about tires good one; no mass transit here, no bike trails maybe one. So no wonder people in a flack about the price of gas to go long distances to work in location if required. Our weather disastrous. 100 degrees F yesterday with air quality almost unbreathable due to wildfires in Canada, pollutants working their way South to my door. Those fires unprecedented and out of control until the snows of next winter. I’ll get busy on this passion project;
delimiting the most challenging aspect PLUS plugging into Substack with you please! I’ll send pieces maybe by email?
I still don’t know how to find my so called Dashboard! Have followers already comment on so many, do notes, but will leave newsletter to you if you don’t mind, to edit, add, whatever you like. I’ll try to do some heavy lifting you have so much happening. And I did find great books times 5! To add to journals you have quoted. Later, dear friend. 😊🇺🇸🌎🕊️
Right; got the graphics; going to podcast. You realize this ties in so nicely with “circular fashion” sustainability I’ve been “getting” to for several weeks. Have 5 books that are really useful but need to feel well enough to read. The recycling of clothing made of “plastic” ie fibers like the blanket in my lap is 100% acrylic! Everything I look at in my own cheap clothing is plastic if stated accurately! I’m horrified. This stuff does not ever decompose. Great photo source? of the Oceanside in Ghana where recycled clothes go in massive bales to die where only 20% are even used to make something else. Worse even the centers that accept clothing no longer wanted for whatever reason (out of style most likely) ie planned obsolescence! By manufacturers to increase profits! 💰💰💰the root of all evil politics &
climate. Going to Callin now! 😊