Welcome to Higginson Strategy’s weekly round-up of international news relating to plastic pollution.
This week, a new report from Queen Mary University of London revealed that current plastic pollution could linger at ocean surfaces for more than a century. A study led by the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency has found that rainwater in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, contains hazardous microplastic particles. The European Parliament has undertaken a second reading of a regulation addressing plastic pellet losses across the supply chain, but plastic pollution activists have criticised its exemption for SMEs. New data from Eurostat showed that every person in the European Union more than 35kg of plastic packaging waste every year, of which less than half is recycled. Finally, the State of California has announced a lawsuit against three major plastic bag producers alleging the companies’ misled consumers about the recyclability of their products.
Plastic pollution could linger at ocean surfaces for over a century
A new study published by Queen Mary University of London has revealed that even if all plastic inputs into the ocean were stopped immediately, fragments of buoyant plastic debris would continue to pollute the ocean surface and release microplastics for more than a century.
The model also showed that the biological pump, also known as the ocean’s natural conveyor belt for carbon and particles, could become overwhelmed as plastic production increases and interfere with the ocean’s bio-geological cycles.
Read more here.
Rain in Jakarta Found to Contain Toxic Microplastic Particles
A new study by the National Research and Innovation Agency in Indonesia has found that rainwater in its capital city, Jakarta, contains hazardous microplastic particles, underscoring growing concerns over urban pollution and its environmental and health effects.
The particles identified were mostly synthetic fibres and plastic fragments composed of polymers such as polyester, nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polybutadiene from tire wear.
Regulation on plastic pellets to reduce losses by up to 74 per cent but exempt SMEs
The European Parliament has undertaken a second reading of a regulation addressing plastic pellet losses across the supply chain. Organisations have praised the regulation’s goal but questioned the regulation’s slow implementation and exemption for SMEs.
According to the European Commission, plastic pellet losses to the environment are the third most prominent source of unintentional microplastic releases in the European Union.
Read more here.
Plastic packaging waste in the EU: 35.3 kg per person
New data from Eurostat shows that the EU generated almost 80 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2023, about 178 kg per inhabitant. An average of 35.3 kg of plastic packaging waste was generated in 2023 for each person living in the EU, but only 14.8kg was recycled.
However, the EU recycled 42.1 per cent of all the generated plastic packaging waste in 2023, indicating an increase in the recycling rate compared with 2013 (38.2 per cent).
Read more here.
California takes action against plastic bag makers over recycling claims
The state of California announced a lawsuit against three major plastic bag producers and reached a settlement with four other manufacturers on Friday on false claims that plastic bags made by the producers were recyclable.
That investigation came after the California Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling had asked the attorney general and regulator CalRecycle to crack down on what it claimed was illegal labelling that was undermining the state’s efforts to tackle plastic pollution.
Read more here.