From Plastic Generation To Zero-Waste Generation!

Plastic is the most common and probably the most familiar material to us in modern society. Almost everything our eyes laid on is made of plastic. For every minute, 1 million drinks in a plastic bottle are sold and 10 million plastic bags are used in the world. During COVID-19, especially, the range of plastic usage became vast and its role has been more crucial than ever. The plastic products such as a facial mask, a single-use bag, and gloves protect people from the virus, and medical devices and protective equipment were helping those who are on the front lines of the batter against the virus.

Birth of Plastic and Its Rapid Growth

Plastic which originally means “pliable and easily shaped” has now become a word to call all kinds of polymers collectively. The very initial form of plastic was invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt and it was Leo Baekeland who succeeded in making 100% synthetic resin named ‘Bakelite’, a material without any nature-derived molecules. The synthetic product of phenol and formaldehyde began the plastic era.

Since then, different kinds of plastics have been developed with various chemicals added and the use of range and quantity started to soar up. According to Roland Geyer, a professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, and his team published a report titled ‘Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made’ in <Science Advances> that the plastic production in 2015 was 380 million tons, which reached 200 times the initial production quantity of 200 million tons. As this attractive material is easily shaped, light, durable, smooth, and colorful, it led to the rapid growth of the world’s industry. Based on Geyer’s report, more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic has ever produced since its invention.

 

Furtive yet Fatal Material Plastic

Since the mid-20th century, the development of plastics and human greed generated a huge amount of material and the waste went up crazily as well. Not being properly treated, the abandoned products ended up piling in the environment. They are not completely degraded but only broken down into tiny pieces by physical or chemical factors and entered the oceans through inland rivers. Animals ingest these microplastic mistaking them as their foods and these eventually turn up on our dinner table.

In fact, WWF and Newcastle University in Australia announced shocking data in 2019 saying that we intake 5 grams of microplastic every week that is equivalent to a credit card. Additionally, Professor John Bolan of Trinity college in Island published a report in a journal <Nature Food> that a plastic feeding bottle releases an average of 4 million microplastic per liter. Experts have warned that these microplastic entered into our body through foods, breath, and skin is likely to cause disruption of endocrine and reproductive system, and cancer.

According to UNEP, the amount of plastic waste generated for the recent 10 years has surpassed that of the last 40 years.

Experts insist that if the current rate remains the same, the discarded plastic flowing into the ocean shall increase from 11 million tons in 2016 to 29 million tons by 2040. Considering an airplane carrying up to 500 people weighs 400 tons, we could imagine how massive the weight of plastic waste is.

The WEF also warns that there may be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 if we do not take any action right now. Plastic use has been soaring up especially in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam where show rapid economic growth. The problem is that they do not have the proper infrastructure to collect, sort, and recycle the waste they generate yet.

 

The Main Destroyer of Environment, Food Packaging

Now, what do you think is the most common kind of plastic waste in the world? According to the Ocean Conservancy’s latest report, it had been cigarette butts for the last 34 years but this year a new waste won first place. That is plastic food packaging.

Another environmental group called ‘Break Free From Plastic’ recently released a report that shows a close relationship between marine pollution and global brands. This latest document <2020 Brand Audit Report> delivers a message that the plastic packaging used by each global brand brings enormous effects to the environmental pollution and that it is urgent to switch to sustainable packaging.

After analyzing the waste abandoned in 55 countries in total, participants found 13,834 packaging of Coca Cola brand in 51 countries that the company is blamed to be the most plastic waste generator in the world. In fact, the company has been chosen to be the world’s biggest plastic polluter in 3 years in a row along with Pepsico and Nestle.

 

Global Brands’ Plastic-Free Movements

As the pollution from discarded plastic is pointed out to be the major cause for climate change and variant viruses and the consequence hit hard on our life, people began to urge companies to come up with measures for a sustainable life. A number of reports have warned the serious environmental pollution and imbalance of ecosystem and they insist that the industry should take more intensive actions, not taking the issue as a mere marketing strategy.

Many of the global brands in the food industry announced that they would reduce the amount of plastic use and add more of the recycled content for their packaging as a way to switch to sustainable packaging.

 

Know Your Enemies and You Will Not Be Imperiled!

The Journal of ‘Science Advanced’ states that a person produces 88kgs of plastic waste a year in Korea in 2016. This takes 3^rd place right after the USA (105kgs) and Britain (99kgs). According to Oil‧Hazardous Substances Research Team of Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, there is an average of 210, 000 particles of microplastic in 1㎡ of the ocean around Guje-do, which is 100 times more than that of Singapore. The pollution of Korean oceans are 13 times higher than other countries due to the Styrofoam buoy commonly used for sea farming. In the end, we are eating and drinking the plastic we have abandoned.

With today's science and technology, is it really impossible to achieve zero-waste that everything is reused and recycled? The reduction of production and use of plastic and resource circulation shouldn’t be an option anymore, but be our firm determination for the next generation. Then, what strategies should we take from now on? rePAPER will scrutinize everything about plastic and study where we should head for this year. Let’s work together for the beginning of the meaningful change with rePAPER, shall we?