Dear Reader,
| This week, research by a leading cancer scientist, who works with the Plastic Soup Foundation and the Resilient Foundation, shared research finding cancer cells exposed to microplastics move faster around the body. This year’s Big Plastic Count revealed the UK disposes of 1.7 billion pieces of plastic a week. The Centre for Science and Environment highlighted increased oil and gas production for plastic polymers. African nation Eritrea has the poorest plastic waste management practices in the world, according to the Mismanaged Waste Index. Finally, a collaboration of researchers from Italy and the UK found high levels of plastic pollution kill the embryos of a wide range of ocean animals. |
As always, we hope you enjoy reading.
John Higginson
Editor-in-Chief
Plastic Free Post
Plastic may contribute to aggressive cancer spread
| Cancer cells exposed to microplastics exhibited increased migration, potentially allowing them to travel further through the body and establish secondary tumours, Dr Lukas Kenner, cancer researcher and deputy director Clinical Institute for Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, has found. Campaign organisations who work with Dr Kenner, including the Plastic Soup Foundation and Resilient Foundation, have urged policymakers to prioritise human health in the UN Global Plastics Treaty discussions taking place next week in Canada. |
Read more here.
90 billion pieces of plastic thrown away every year
| This year’s count by members of the public took place during a week in March, finding that UK households throw away some 1.7 billion pieces of plastic a week – equivalent to 90 billion a year. Founders Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic said the amount of plastic waste incinerated had risen from 46 percent to 58 percent since 2022, noting that this can release more carbon dioxide per tonne than burning coal. They said that just 17 percent is recycled, 16 percent exported and 11 percent landfilled. |
Read more here.
Surge in oil and gas use to make plastic polymers
| The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a public interest research organisation based in India, published a report ahead of INC-4 highlighting how companies have started increasing oil and gas production for plastic polymers, in anticipation of a serious international response to climate change that could curb the production of fossil fuels. Petrochemicals, the category that includes plastic, now account for 14 percent of total crude oil use, and are expected to drive half of the growth in oil demand between now and 2050, CSE has projected based on United Nations data. |
Read more here.
Eritrea fares worst in the world in plastic waste management
| In 2024, around 90,954 tonnes of plastic waste was estimated to be mismanaged in the African country, out of around 93,444 tonnes produced. The country has the poorest plastic waste management practices in the world, according to the Mismanaged Waste Index. Mozambique, which fared worst in 2023 with 99.8 percent mismanaged plastic waste had moved to the seventh position this year. Due to poor waste management practices, 81 countries, including 44 from Africa and India, classified as ‘low waste producing polluters’, contribute to plastic pollution. |
Read more here.
Ocean plastics are causing embryos to die
| A study from the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Italy and the University of Exeter has found that high levels of plastic pollution may be killing the embryos of a wide range of ocean animals. According to the researchers, when exposed to high levels of new PVC pellets, the species they examined were all affected. Some failed to make a shell or a notochord (the midline structure of an embryo), some failed to form proper bilateral features, and some just stopped developing after a few rounds of cell division, all failing to make a viable embryo. |
Read more here.
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