8 million tons of plastics reach the oceans every year

Ground Report | New Delhi: 8 million tons of plastics; India has a plastic waste problem, generating 26,000 tons per day, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of 2019. If we travel to the northeastern state of Assam, specifically Pamohi, we find that people burn plastics to keep warm in the harsh winters of the Himalayan foothills.

But now many more countries have joined this race. Now, from Ghana to the Netherlands, they are using plastic to make roads and all other routes. With this, they are not only reducing carbon emissions, but they are also increasing the life of their roads by bringing plastics thrown into the ocean and landfills and using them to build roads.

5 billion plastic bags are used in the world

By the year 2040, 1.3 billion tons of plastic will accumulate in the world's environment. India itself produces more than 33 lakh tonnes of plastic every year. The production of so much plastic became the inspiration for this experiment of Vasudevan. This encouraged them to use plastic for making roads. In the year 2015, the Government of India made it mandatory to use plastic waste on roads built near major cities with a population of more than five lakhs.

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According to the United Nations, 5 billion plastic bags are used in the world each year, of which more than 3.5 billion, 70 percent, end up in nature or in landfills and affect many species in the ocean and in the earth.

Despite the fact that plastic "is a great invention", bags made of this material constitute one of the most serious problems for species, explains Álvaro Luna, professor of the Degree in Environment and Sustainability at the European University, coinciding with the celebration tomorrow, July 3, of the International Day Free of plastic bags.

8 million tons of plastics

According to United Nations data, each year more than 8 million tons of plastics reach the oceans, many from the pollution that is discharged into rivers, especially in Southeast Asia and China. And despite the signing of international agreements for the elimination of plastic, according to Luna, in many countries "it is difficult" to transfer "realistically" the commitments acquired for the elimination of plastic.

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In fact, plastic waste has traveled half the world, until in 2018 China refused to continue being the deposit of this garbage, a relay that Romania and Bulgaria took in Europe together with Turkey.

More than 70 countries have asked the United Nations for a new binding agreement against this material, including Spain and the countries of the European Union, as well as many Latin Americans. However, they do not include the great powers such as the United States or China, nor India, Russia, or Brazil.

According to a study published Thursday by the Rethink Plastic alliance and the Break Free From Plastic movement, global plastic production has increased roughly 20-fold in the past 50 years and is expected to double again in 2035 and quadruple in 2050.

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