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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.
Freshwater Microplastics
Emerging Environmental Contaminants?
- Title
- Freshwater Microplastics
- Subtitle
- Emerging Environmental Contaminants?
- Authors
- Martin Wagner
- Scott Lambert
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2018
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-61615-5
- Size
- 15.5 x 24.1 cm
- Pages
- 316
- Categories
- Naturwissenschaften Chemie