Welcome to Higginson Strategy’s weekly round-up of international news relating to plastic pollution.
This week, a study by researchers in China revealed that microplastics hinder photosynthesis, threatening millions with starvation. The US state of California has hit ‘restart’ on a landmark 2022 bill that overhauled plastic packaging rules in the state. Researchers from Boston University have found that microplastic pollution in the body could be fuelling bacteria and viruses’ ability to withstand the effects of antibiotics. Retail giant Walmart has announced that it does not expect to meet its 2025 plastic packaging reduction and recyclability targets. Finally, plastic waste generated by human activity has been found at the deepest point of the Mediterranean.
Plastic pollution threatens food supply
Microplastic pollution could have a serious impact on food production by reducing plants’ ability to perform photosynthesis, experts have warned. The analysis estimates that between four and 14 per cent of the world’s staple crops of wheat, rice and maize is being lost due to the pervasive particles. It could get even worse, the scientists said, as more microplastics pour into the environment.
The annual crop losses caused by microplastics could be of a similar scale to those caused by the climate crisis in recent decades, the researchers from Nanjing University in China report, who also warned that microplastic pollution could increase the number at risk of starvation by another 400 million in the next two decades, calling that an “alarming scenario” for global food security.
Read more here.
California’s Governor has restarted the state’s recycling rules
California Governor Gavin Newsom has hit ‘restart’ on the landmark 2022 bill that overhauled how plastic packaging gets recycled in the state, with possible impacting similar legislation across the US, in particular New York where the plastics bill goes beyond the California statute on key areas, including material bans, recyclability mandates and source reduction.
The reason for this restart was to minimise “costs for small businesses and working families as much as possible.” However, it’s not yet clear how big of a change Newsom’s restart will make policy-wise. The law still requires that thousands of companies reduce single-use plastic packaging and foodware by 25 per cent by 2032 and pay for and ensure that 100 per cent of their products are recyclable or compostable.
Researchers find microplastic pollution is fuelling viruses to withstand antibiotics
Microplastic pollution in the body could be fuelling bacteria and viruses’ ability to withstand the effects of antibiotics, researchers at Boston University have revealed. According to the study, the plastics provide a surface that the bacteria attach to and colonise.
The Zaman Laboratory tested how E. coli, a culprit known to contribute to foodborne illness, reacted to being in a closed environment with microplastics. When attached to any surface, bacteria create a sticky substance that serves as a shield, protecting itself and keeping it securely attached to the surface. In testing, researchers saw the microplastic they used to supercharge the shield so much that antibiotics were unable to get through.
Read more here.
Walmart fails to reach 2025 plastic targets
The largest US retailer Walmart does not expect to meet its 2025 plastic packaging reduction and recyclability targets, the retailer revealed, following an announcement that at the end of 2024 it would miss 2025 and 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
Walmart largely attributed increases in the weight of virgin plastic used to growth in product categories like food. It says it reduced its overall plastic packaging intensity, when measuring weight of plastic per net sales dollar. According to Walmart’s reporting to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the total virgin weight of plastic totalled over one million metric tonnes in 2023.
Read more here.
Plastic found at the deepest point of the Mediterranean
Plastic waste generated by human activities has now reached the deepest point in the Mediterranean- the 5,112-metre-deep Calypso Deep- according to researchers at the University of Barcelona, representing ‘one of the highest concentrations of marine plastic and litter ever detected at great depths.’
The Calypso Deep is a depression located 60 kilometres west of the Peloponnese coast in Greece, within the so-called Hellenic Trench. The study identifies the source of plastic to be both terrestrial and marine, arriving there by being transported on ocean currents, as well as direct dumping.
Read more here.