Page - 284 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

incinerator inOahu,Hawaii, also comeswith an800,000 tonperyear “putorpay” trashobligation. If theydon’t get theirquotaofwaste, thecitypaysaportionof the revenuetheywouldhaveearnedburningthetrashtheydidn’tget.Thepubliccalls it “feeding the beast” [80], which had undermined recycling, waste diversion, and compostingprograms, for fear of fines. Two earlier documents, “On the Road to ZeroWaste” from GAIA [79] and “Waste andOpportunity,” fromAsYouSowand theNationalResourcesDefense Council (NRDC) [81], both lay out a framework for sustainablematerialmanage- ment fromresourceextraction to recoveryand remanufacture,without theneed for incineration, or the legacyof associated toxicity andhumanhealth effects. In the developingworld, circular economic systems are expanding. There are material recovery facilities, orMRFs, sproutingupeverywhere.Waste sortingand collectionhappensdoor todoor,with thecollectorkeeping thevalueof recyclables afterdeliveringallmaterials to the localMRF.Organicsarecomposted, recyclables are cashed in, and the rest is put on public display to show product/packaging designchallenges.According to theMotherEarthFoundation,279communities in thePhilippineshaveMRFs,andwastediversionfromlandfillsandopen-pitburning nowexceeds 80%.The template for the communityMRF isproving its scalability acrossAsia, India,Africa andSouthAmerica. Rationale of the Linear Economy In 2014 Plastics Europe released an annual report titled “Plastics – the facts 2013: An analysis of European latest plastics production,demandandwastedata” [82],outlining the forecast forplasticdemand andchallenges in theyearsahead.Worldwide, therehasbeenahistorical trendofa 4%increaseofannualplasticproductionsincethe1950s,withslightdipsduringthe OPECembargo in the 1970s and the 2008 economic downturn, but otherwise it’s been steady growth from almost no domestic plastic produced post-WWII to 311 million tons of new plastic produced in 2013 alone. If this growth rate continuesasanticipatedworldwide, therewillbecloseto600milliontonsproduced annually by2030 andover a billion tons a year by2050. This trajectoryispartiallybasedonrisingdemandfromagrowingglobalmiddle class and is coupledwith the rising population.Yet, these demandswill stabilize, leavingwaste-to-energythroughincinerationakeydriver in thesecurityofdemand fornewplasticproduction.Recycledplastic is adirect competitorwithnewplastic production, being inversely proportional to the available supply. This has been largely acknowledged and has kept recycling rates generally very lowworldwide. Consider recycle rates in the United States alone, with the highest recovery per product in 2013wonbyPETbottles (31.3%) seconded byHDPEmilk containers (28.2%), andnational average for all plastic combinedwas 9.2%after 53 years of keeping score [83]. The industry transition in light of these trends is to advocate energy recovery after maximizing the utility of plastic, arguing that the cost vs. benefit of plastic favors unregulated design and improvedwastemanagement.Acareful look at the life cycle of alternativematerials (paper,metals, glass), fromextraction tomanu- facture, transportation, and waste management, must be weighed against the 284 M.Eriksen et al.