With the launch of Ocean Cleanup’s system 03, the cleansing of waste and plastics in the ocean has seen new hope. The project aims to undo the damage of the Pacific garbage patch with the help of modern machinery, while not harming marine life and recycling the waste to create products like sunglasses, Kia, the automaker, is working with Ocean Cleanup to utilise the plastic in the production of future EVs.
The proliferation of plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental crises facing the world today. While global efforts have focused on curtailing plastic pollution once it enters the oceans, a major risk lies with “ocean-bound plastic” – the tremendous quantities of plastic waste from coastal regions that are at risk of being blown, washed or swept into the marine environment. Plastic waste is a scourge that has evidence lying at the surface of the ocean, down to the deepest depths in the Mariana Trench, and all that is in between. Graphic images of sea life mangled and deformed with plastic waste embedded in their body’s surface every day, and yet waste is dumped into the water bodies with impunity.
This ocean-bound plastic waste stems from the lack of effective waste collection and management systems in many coastal cities and towns across the globe. In rapidly urbanizing regions of Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, inadequate infrastructure and funding mean vast amounts of plastic end up in the environment, swept into waterways and out to the high seas. Some efforts to remedy exposure to environmental hazards are being taken, for instance, Ocean Cleanup’s Thailand interceptor attempts to mitigate harm to oceans and large water bodies by intercepting plastic waste in channels connecting rivers to oceans.
The statistics are staggering – it’s estimated that over 14 million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year, the equivalent of one garbage truck full every minute. A significant portion of this burden comes from ocean-bound sources, with one study estimating that 69.14 Mt of annual global mismanaged plastic waste is generated within just 50 km of a coastline by 2025.
This deluge of ocean-bound plastic poses a grave threat to marine ecosystems through entanglement and ingestion by wildlife. It also contributes to the formation of massive garbage patches circulating in the oceans’ major gyres. Plastic fragments have even been detected in Arctic Sea ice, highlighting how few environments remain untouched.
Clearly, stemming the tide of ocean-bound plastic is a priority if we hope to preserve healthy oceans. Traditional beach clean-ups are deploying a bucket against a torrent – treating the symptoms while ignoring the underlying causes originating inland.
Instead, a more sustainable and economically viable solution may lie in embracing principles of the circular economy by capturing and recycling ocean-bound plastic before it ever reaches the sea. This emerging movement aims to intercept plastic waste streams in coastal communities and process them as a valuable recyclable commodity.
Companies like Plastic Bank are demonstrating this model by installing collection points in areas lacking formal waste disposal. Residents can bring in recovered plastic waste and redeem it for digital credits, providing a much-needed income stream in impoverished regions. The collected plastic is then recycled for remanufacturing into new products.
This creates a triple benefit: It reduces ocean-bound plastic leakage, provides economic opportunities in marginalized communities, and establishes a supply chain for recycled plastic feedstock – one of the key pillars of the circular economy. The resulting recycled plastic can be incorporated into products in industries from consumer goods to construction, offsetting the demand for virgin plastic resins.
With ingenuity and concerted investment in waste infrastructure, these types of circular economy interventions could be scaled up across coastal regions worldwide where the ocean-bound plastic crisis is most acute. It harnesses market-based incentives and labour to create self-sustaining systems that capture waste before it becomes pollution.
Importantly, such solutions should not be construed as greenlighting unbridled plastic production – overall reduction of single-use plastics remains imperative. However, combined with education and policy measures, circular economy waste recovery is a pragmatic strategy to mitigate the harmful impacts of the staggering volumes of plastic already overwhelming terrestrial environments.
While the scale of the ocean-bound plastic problem is daunting, it presents an opportunity to creatively redesign systems that are failing both people and the planet. Transforming waste streams into economic engines can generate value while restoring environmental health – a true circular victory.
Though this could be a triumph for the environment and the people, true change will be monumentally difficult with the consumption moto of capitalism, promoting incessant purchasing of goods that end up as waste. A circular economy may not last for long in an overbearing capitalist world that values revenue over the survivability of not just the environment, but that of humankind.
The Trash Economy 