Plastic Overshoot Day, the point at which the amount of plastic waste generated in a particular year exceeds the world’s capacity to manage it properly, has arrived (6 September).
According to Earth Action, global plastic waste is expected to reach close to 227 million tonnes this year, or 27.4 kilograms of plastic waste per person. Some 72 million tonnes of this is expected to leak into the environment.
By the end of September, more than 85% of the world’s population will be living in areas that have exceeded their capacity to manage plastic waste.
Earth Action said that Plastic Overshoot Day occurs two days later this year, reflecting recent improvements in waste management – as it noted, the proportion of waste that is mismanaged has reduced by 2.7% over the past five years.
However, this is offset by an increase in the weight of pollution, which has risen by 3.6% over the same period.
Recycling rates
“Progress cannot be measured by recycling rates alone,” commented Sarah Perreard, co-founder of Earth Action.
“The world is getting better at managing waste yet producing plastic so quickly that more of it escapes into nature every year. That is not a failure of individual communities, it is a systemic one and it can still be reversed if governments and businesses cut unnecessary plastic at source.”
Most responsible
According to Earth Action, plastic waste isn’t distributed evenly around the world, with 12 countries among the top offenders, responsible for close to 60% of the world’s mismanaged plastic waste.
The top five offending countries are China, India, Russia, Brazil and Mexico – while China is still the biggest single source of plastic waste at 55.9 million tonnes, its overshoot day has been delayed eight days, as a result of recent improvements to waste management systems.
Other countries, such as the UK, US, France and Germany, are described by Earth Action as ‘overloaders’, generating an average of 78kg of plastic waste per person annually, close to three times the global average. However, said countries properly manage more than 90% of it domestically.
“This data confirms that plastic pollution cannot be solved by waste management alone,” said Giorgio Bagordo, senior expert, WWF Italy. “Reducing plastic production and consumption at the source remains the most effective lever available to governments and businesses. WWF sees Plastic Overshoot Day as a reminder that the window for action is closing.” Read more here.
