The issue of marine plastic litter warrants bold new answers, strong action and urgent measures if we want to save our planet
Mountains of toxic waste and garbage on the outskirts of our otherwise glossy cities and urban hotspots have become a common sight. These landfills have in a way started to symbolise major cities in India. A recent report found that housing settlements around the landfill zones in the national capital region are suffering from worsening air and water quality levels. Water quality has especially touched rock bottom as toxins from the landfill area is leaching into the ground water table. These conditions, though sad, are not entirely unheard of. However, what is really making news is the level of garbage and litter that are now found on Mount Everest and its base camp. The reach of garbage generated by mankind is now reaching the highest place on the planet. It is, therefore, not surprising that the same garbage is now choking our oceans, too.
A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports found the remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean littered with 238 tonnes of plastic, despite being home to around 500 people. The study found almost one million shoes and over 370,000 toothbrushes among the 414 million pieces of plastic washed ashore on the unspoilt part of Australian territory. Logic points to the Australian sources of pollution but in-depth reports are suggesting that the actual source could be Indonesia and that the oceanic currents are driving the garbage towards the Aussie shores. The fact that Indonesia is closer to the Coco Islands also lends credence to these reports.
The fact that developing nations are unable to contain their waste and dispose it more responsibly is also due to the fact that these countries are still in the learning curve of establishing cleanliness as a habit rather than once in a while ritual. The practice of “cleanliness drives” in developing nations is evidence that cleanliness is still to be ingrained quality in the national consciousness. Having said that, in the interests of the health of its people, tourism and international image, many nations are striving hard to improve their conditions. However, developed countries have completed their learning curve in waste disposal after decades of littering the planet and are now pointing fingers at the developing nations. This is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Developed nations are slowly but steadily turning the trend on its heels. China and the US are now the biggest Oceanic polluters, according to a study published by the World Bank. The scale of pollution from these countries is becoming hard to ignore like the proverbial elephant in the room. Research data shows that person per day production of waste is the highest in the US and European countries at 2.58 kg and 1.46 kg per person per day respectively, which is eventually finding its way to the high seas. But predictably, these so-called developed nations are looking the other way.
This unflattering information is further corroborated in the latest World Bank report, ‘What a Waste 2.0’, which states that: “Although they only account for 16 per cent of the world’s population, high-income countries generate 34 per cent or 683 million tonnes of the world’s waste…” After this disclosure, it is quite impossible to give the developed countries a clean chit for their role in oceanic pollution. The countries themselves are oblivious to the pollution they are causing since the entire blame is being shifted to the third world nations, which are not generating the waste that they are being accused of disposing. But the blame they are rightly accused of is that they are importing much of these plastic waste from the developed nations in the form of meat trays, milk cartons, beer cans, water bottles, food containers, bottles of shampoos, conditioners, laundry detergents. So, since plastic is an internationally traded commodity, the empty bottle or can a person puts in a recycle bin in Melbourne or Manchester, becomes part of a global supply chain and travels across the world to China. Till 2016, China had topped the list of plastic waste importers with over half of the developed world’s refuse sent there. But not anymore as China has banned the import of non-industrial plastic waste. Till now, developed nations were dumping their waste in third world nations and keeping their back yards clean while blaming the latter of creating pollution. But now, these nations will have nowhere to dump their garbage and will have to set up their own waste processing industries.
Despite the huge per capita waste generation in high-income countries, of which almost 12 per cent is plastic, their mismanaged plastic waste percentage is strikingly low. Before you go guessing that it is their efficient recycling facilities or processes that have led to close to zero mismanaged waste, dig deeper! For these nations, recycling is another name for shipping off the waste to economically weaker countries, which may be already struggling with their own garbage. The narrative needs to change here and the world needs to know how and who is generating the oceanic waste. Till this is done, the third world will be at the receiving end of both plastic waste from developed nations and the accompanying blame.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)
