According to the UN Environmental Programme about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced globally every year. If historic growth trends continue, global production of primary plastic is forecasted to reach 1,100 million tonnes by 2050. To mark World Environment Day (5 June), experts from across Kent are sharing their views on what we can do to help #BeatPlasticPollution.
Why is reducing plastic pollution so important?
Emily Mason, Environmental Sustainability Co-ordinator
The Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCE) receive, on average, 10 calls a day about animals affected by litter. They estimate that the actual figure is much higher as injured animals are not always found. The litter made of plastic will also have long lasting impact as it breaks down, allowing tiny microplastics to enter our soils, water courses and be ingested by wildlife. These tiny microplastics can be deadly as they build up in the bodies of small animals, impacting every animal along the food chain as the concentration increases.
Microplastics are inside our bodies too, as they are in our drinking water, and on our plates because we eat animals that have consumed microplastics. Many of the chemicals in plastics are known to interfere with hormone systems as they are endocrine disruptors and human exposure to them can lead to hormonal imbalances, reproductive problems like infertility, and even cancer. Studies show that we ingest up to 5 grams of microplastics per week, which is roughly equivalent to the mass of a credit card! Scientists are still unpacking the short and long-term effects of this contamination.
What changes can industry make?
Dr Vivek Trivedi, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry and Drug Delivery, Medway School of Pharmacy
A major contributor to plastic waste is single-use plastics. We can reduce our use of these as individuals but in many cases, eliminating plastic is not currently an option. For instance, reducing single-use plastics is one of the biggest challenges presented to pharmaceutical manufacturing. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most heavily dependent on plastic for meeting its packaging requirements due to the material’s considerably low cost and lack of chemical reactivity – resulting in a global waste problem with 150 million tonnes of single-use plastic waste being incinerated every year.
Currently, concerns around contamination and health risks mean that adopting ‘greener’ packaging, such as mechanically recycled plastics, is a hurdle for companies in the industry. We have been awarded £100k by Innovate UK to help remove this hurdle by developing a project to support the uptake of sustainable pharmaceutical packaging using green chemistry and sustainable manufacturing processes. So far, we have put together a consortium and are in the process of applying for further funding from Innovate UK to take the project further.
Can we count on nature to reverse the tide on plastic pollution?
Tobias von der Haar, Professor of Systems Biology, School of Natural Sciences
Although plastics generally degrade only very slowly and persist in the environment for long periods of time, some organisms can actually degrade plastics quite efficiently.
Worms and insects that eat plants, and bacteria and fungi that infect plants, often need to break down the protective wax layer that covers many plant leaves. Wax shares some chemical properties with plastics, for example, both wax and plastic contain chemical groups that strongly repel water. Due to this similarity wax-degrading enzymes originating from such organisms, which are called cutinases, can sometimes also attack the chemical bonds in plastics.
Many enzymology groups worldwide work on the problem of improving the ability of cutinases to attack plastics, and many biotechnology groups, as well as companies, are in the process of developing actual plastic recycling systems based on microorganism-derived cutinases. At Kent, we are developing biofilm-based approaches that deliver cutinase enzymes efficiently onto plastic substrates.
What can I do now to reduce the impact of plastic waste?
Catherine Morris, Sustainability Manager
It is always important to ensure that anything you are throwing away goes properly into the bins provided. If a bin is getting full then it is more likely that the wind will be able to blow items out from the top of the bin.
It is really important to put things in the right bin. Plastics on the whole can be recycled. If added to general waste, they will go to incineration or to landfill depending on where you are disposing your rubbish. This means that either, toxic emissions are released from the burning of plastics or, microplastics can enter the environment in a landfill site.
Ultimately, if you can reduce the amount of plastic you use, particularly single use plastics, you will be reducing the risk that this ends up as litter. You can also help clean up litter where you see it by taking part in local litter picks, including on campus.
To find out more about sustainability at Kent, visit our Sustainability page.