A SEA OF plastic
The EU throws away 27.1 million tonnes of plastic each year
EUROPEANS buy 49 million tonnes of plastic a year - but throw more than half of it away.
It means that 27 million tonnes of plastic rubbish is discarded annually, according to figures from Plastics-Europe the European association for plastic manufacturers.
However, in a sign that we’re becoming more environmentally conscious, the amount of plastic being recycled has overtaken that going to the landfill for the first time on record. In 2016 - the latest figures available 31% of discarded plastic was recycled, while 27% went to the landfill. The remaining waste was used to generate energy.
This September, the European Commission voted in favour of adopting the “European strategy for plastic in a circular economy” - an initiative to improve EU approaches to plastic production and pollution over the next decade. The EU executive will work to ensure that all plastic packaging placed on the internal market is either reusable or easily recyclable by 2030.
According to the European Commission, packaging dominates the plastic marketplace, accounting for 40% of goods bought by Europeans.
That is followed by building and construction materials (20%), motor vehicles (10%) and electronic equipment (6%).
At the moment, failure to recycle plastics costs the European economy around €105 billion each year (around £93 billion), while only 6% of new plastic materials come from recycled plastics.
About half the plastic waste collected in Europe is sent abroad, where uncertainty remains over its treatment.
Often, large quantities of plastic waste can leak into the environment, causing exponential damage.
Globally, between five to 13 million tonnes of plastics end up in our oceans every year.
According to studies cited by the UN, if nothing is done there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050.
Between 150,000 and 500,000 tonnes of plastic waste enter EU seas and oceans each year, and end up in particularly vulnerable marine areas, such as the Mediterranean
Sea and parts of the Arctic Ocean. The WWF estimates that plastic represents 95% of litter on beaches and in the sea in the Mediterranean area, making it the most polluted sea in the world.
In total, it is estimated that between 75,000 and 300,000 tonnes of microplastics are released into the environment each year in the EU. Microplastics are tiny plastic pieces fewer than five millimetres long. Alarmingly, they are found in 90% of bottled water.