The Transition | March 2022
People and progress in solving the ocean plastic crisis

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About OpenOceans Global. Our work centers on mapping ocean plastic, curating the best solutions, and linking together a community of ocean plastic experts and leaders.

Did You Know?

Of all discarded plastic so far, 9% has been recycled, 12% has been incinerated, and the remainder has either been disposed of in landfills or released into the environment.

Plastic waste can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, and even then, it never fully disappears; it just gets smaller and smaller. Microplastics have been found in every corner of the globe, from the peak of Mount Everest to the trough of the Mariana Trench. It has been estimated that humans ingest the equivalent of a credit card of plastic each week. From the United Nations exhibit: In Images: Plastic is Forever. Image credit: Muntaka Chasant (Ghana)

Taking a Deeper Dive

UN plastic agreement takes a step forward in Nairobi

The long-awaited international agreement to address plastic waste took a big step forward when the United Nations Fifth Environmental Assembly met in Nairobi, Kenya, between February 28 – March 2, 2022. In a speech by Inger Anderson, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), she said “the businesses that created the plastic industry “did not foresee a future – now our present – in which plastic pollution is everywhere, from the deepest ocean trench to the highest mountain peak. We see this pollution. We feel its climate impacts. We live with the sheer waste of taking a versatile, durable material and making it disposable – losing all value instead of retaining it. Now we must make the wrong-headed way we manufacture and use plastic the past.”

According to a March 2, 2022, press release by UNEP, the resolution approved at the Nairobi meeting is “based on three initial draft resolutions from various nations, establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), which will begin its work in 2022, with the ambition of completing a draft global legally binding agreement by the end of 2024." It is expected to present a legally binding instrument, which would:

• Reflect diverse alternatives to address the full lifecycle of plastic,
• Address the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials, and
• Address the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, capacity building and scientific and technical cooperation.

A story in Plastics News on February 24, 2022, reported that the biggest concern of industry groups attending talks was “that the treaty will try to limit virgin plastic production.” Image credit: United Nations

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Industry says the outlook for plastic is “bullish”

Despite the global efforts to reduce plastic production and waste, according to a February 18, 2022, story in Plastics News, “the latest Federal Reserve figures show that plastic production has grown faster than overall manufacturing production since the middle of last year.” The story quotes economist Alan Tonelson who says that” given public concern about plastic pollution and the Biden administration's receptivity to moving away from such allegedly 'unsustainable' goods, that performance is especially impressive.” Image credit: Bizvibe.com

Mapping Plastic-Fouled Coastlines

See more beaches fouled by plastic on our ocean plastic trash map.

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Coastal Hotspot: Henderson Island

Deep in the Pacific Ocean, midway between South America and Australia, lies Henderson Island. Part of the Pitcairn Island chain, there are few places more isolated on the planet. Still, a cleanup organized by U.S. environmentalist Brett Howell, founder of the Howell Conservation Fund, gathered more than 18 tonnes of plastic from the uninhabited island. According to a July 29, 2019, story in The Guardian, “much of the debris drifts ashore on East Beach, is bordered by an unforgiving coral reef and prone to strong winds, making access feasible only via a 75-minute, 5km hike through dense vegetation and craggy and slippery coral.” Researchers found 40% of the plastic was in the form of fishing buoys. Ropes and nets made up another 20%. Henderson is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is within a marine protected area where fishing is not allowed. Much of the plastic is believed to come from South America or passing ships. Image credit: Iain McGregor/The Guardian

Solutions

See more solutions on our ocean plastic solutions page. Have a solution we should know about? Submit it here.

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Category: Plastic Recycling and Reuse

Plastic Bank is building and nurturing ethical recycling ecosystems in the world's most vulnerable coastal communities and improving the lives of those who collect plastic waste. As of November 1, 2021, the organization had recovered 37 million kilograms of waste from 536 collection points, including in Haiti, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The organization says it is "turning plastic into gold by revolutionizing the world’s recycling systems to create a regenerative, inclusive, and circular plastic economy." The organization stops ocean plastic while improving the lives of those who help collect it and reprocesses the materials for reintroduction into the global manufacturing supply chain. Collectors receive a premium for the materials they collect to better help them provide basic family necessities such as groceries, school tuition, and health insurance.
Image credit: Plastic Bank

Meet the Experts and Leaders

OpenOceans Global is identifying ocean plastic experts from around the world. Here are two experts leading efforts to reduce plastic pollution you should know about.

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Douglas Woodring, Rebound Plastic Exchange

Douglas Woodring is lead expert at Rebound Ltd, the company behind Rebound Plastic Exchange, a global trading platform for buyers and sellers of recycled plastic. He is also founder and managing director of Ocean Recovery Alliance, a non-profit organization bringing together solutions, technology, collaborations and policy to create positive improvements for the health of the ocean. Woodring founded the Plasticity Forum on innovations for plastic in its second life and has worked with the U.N. Environment Programme and the World Bank on plastic pollution issues. In 2020, he co-founded the Commitments Accelerator for Plastic Pollution (CAPP), a global incubator for plastic waste reduction programs. In 2018, he received the Prince’s Award for Innovative Philanthropy by Prince Albert of Monaco, and has been recognized as a UN Climate Hero and a Google Earth Hero for his efforts. Born in Northern California, he has a dual master’s degree from The Wharton School (MBA) and Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Ocean Recovery Alliance Inc. Image credit: Douglas Woodring

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Kara Lavender Law, Sea Education Association

Dr. Kara Lavender Law is a Research Professor at Sea Education Association (Woods Hole, MA), whose research focuses on the sources of plastic to the marine environment, understanding how ocean physics determines the distribution of plastic debris, and the degradation and ultimate fate of different plastic materials in the ocean. She is co-chair of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group FLOTSAM (Floating Litter and its Oceanic Transport Analysis and Modeling), served as the co-principal investigator of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Marine Debris Working Group, and holds a PhD in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a BS in mathematics from Duke University. Among her many speaking engagements and accolades, in 2018, Dr. Law served as a witness to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Hearing on “Cleaning Up the Oceans: How to Reduce the Impact of Man-Made Trash on the Environment, Wildlife, and Human Health?” Image credit: Sea Education Association