Abstract
Mitigating plastic pollution requires international cooperation because significant volumes of plastic waste are transported across jurisdictions both as waste exports and drifting ocean plastics (OP). Here we estimate which nations are (1) sources for overseas OP reaching Australian waters and (2) destinations receiving OP from Australian sources. We then provide actionable recommendations for mitigating plastic pollution in Australian waters and beyond. We estimated that the vast majority of overseas OP reaching Australia is from Indonesia, and that most of the Australian-sourced OP reaching overseas territories is entering New Zealand. Key actions for mitigating the OP issue in Australia include better governance, upgraded enforcement and increased investments to reduce fossil fuel-based plastic production and to drastically improve both domestic and international waste management infrastructure and operations.
Highlights
Plastic pollution is a global environmental concern due to its widespread damage to ecosystems, economies, and human well-being
Additional damage is created by the release of toxic chemicals from plastics to air, soil and water resources (UNEP, 2014) as well as human exposure to plastic particles and additives linked to cancer, obesity, diabetes, and endocrine system disorders (Brophy et al, 2012; DeMatteo et al, 2013; Manikkam et al, 2013; Lehner et al, 2019)
A significant disruption to global plastic waste trade occurred in 2017, when China banned the import of large volumes of plastic waste into its territory (Liu et al, 2018; Walker, 2018) and neighboring low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) started receiving this rejected waste (Wang et al, 2019)
Summary
Plastic pollution is a global environmental concern due to its widespread damage to ecosystems, economies, and human well-being. We are currently producing ∼380 million tons of plastic per year, with just 9% of it being recycled; the rest is burned, landfilled, or dumped in the environment (Geyer et al, 2017). Plastics of all kinds—from microscopic packaging fragments to giant fishing nets—have accumulated in many marine ecosystems, including beaches (Lavers and Bond, 2017), coastal and oceanic waters (Ryan, 2013; Lebreton et al, 2018), marine canyons (Schlining et al, 2013), coral reefs (Lamb et al, 2018), mangroves (Martin et al, 2019), and even sea ice (Peeken et al, 2018). The vast majority of today’s plastics are made of fossil fuels (∼99%) and the release of greenhouse gases during their production and incineration is costing around
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