We know that the sea are warming and becoming increasingly acidic as we persist in to pump more and more CO2into the atmosphere . But they also face another threat from human beings : plastic . Our modern lives are dominated by this omnipresent material , from the packaging on the nutrient we run through to the technology we habituate every day , there is no getting off from it . Our ocean are no exception , and if current trends stay , anew reporthas revealed that by 2050 , shaping codswallop in the ocean will outweigh fish .
According to the new report by theEllen MacArthur Foundation , launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week , an amazing 95 pct of plastic packaging is lost to the economy every class after individual use , cost an estimated $ 80 - 120 billion ( £ 56 - 84 billion ) . While only a paltry 5 pct is recycled effectively , around 40 per centum is buried in landfill , and a third of all plastic give rise each twelvemonth finds its way into the world ’s oceans . This is equivalent to dumping the subject of one scraps truck a mo into the marine surroundings .
Only a midget fraction of the credit card develop every year is ever recycled back into the system of rules , and even less is recycle effectively . Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Since 1964 , charge plate output has increased by a factor of 20 , and currently stands at around 311 million MT ( 343 million tons ) of the stuff a year . This figure is expected todouble againwithin the next 20 years , and quadruple by 2050 , as develop nations devour more plastic . The wish-wash that currently receive its way into the oceans already has harmful impacts on the wildlife . From plastics found in the stomachs of seafowl , to the plastic bags use up by turtles and seal , or the microplastic that we ca n’t even see being ingested by Pisces that we then consume .
But it is not just about the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean , it is also about the fossil fuels that are needed to produce the material . Currently , the production of plastics habituate around six percent of the planetary use of goods and services of oil – by 2050 this could rise to 20 per centum . The report calls for a sodding rethink of the way we manufacture credit card , and then how we deal with the passel of waste it produces .
The amount of plastic produce every year is determine to increase dramatically within the next 30 long time . Ellen MacArthur Foundation
“ This report demo the importance of triggering a rotation in the charge card industrial ecosystem and is a first step to show how to transform the way plastic move through our economy,”explainsDominic Waughray of the World Economic Forum , the hosts of the yearly talks in Davos , who jointly issue the report along with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation . “ To move from insight to large - scurf action , it is clear that no one worker can work on this alone . The public , individual sphere , and civil society all need to mobilize to capture the chance of the fresh circular charge plate economy . ”
The solutions are not well-heeled . The fact that the cost of oil is now so low means that recycling sometime plastic is now immensely more expensive than producing new single , and with the economies in the developing world grow bigger , so is the market for plastic . Part of the solution is to rethink how we use charge card , reducing their use in promotion for exercise , and reuse as much of it as we can . Manufacturers could help in this by producing charge card items that can be reused , while also shifting to plastics that could be composted . Either manner , any solution will take a major displacement in the way all of us consume the ever - present product .
