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Opinion | Covid-19’s collateral damage: plastic pollution in our oceans
- Faced with a future of more plastic in the oceans than fish, a possibility heightened by the waste generated as a pandemic by-product, consumers, investors and advocates must push for a ban on single-use plastic
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Imagine swimming in a plastic ocean. As horrible as that may sound, we are not far from that dystopian scenario. Early in March, a major United Nations conference resolved to work towards better recycling and for “enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, to allow the revolutionary plan to be realised” – whatever that means.
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The aim is to have a legally binding agreement by 2024. But, we know how these things work. We can certainly get ready for more talking, more conferences, and little in the way of action.
Our oceans need us now. We are already on track to ensure the plastic in our oceans weighs more than all the fish. Back in 2016, it was predicted that it would take until 2050 to reach that point. Now, it seems, we might even get there this decade. Well done us.
Forty per cent of our oceans carry plastic in or on them. There are plastic islands out there that are larger than countries and certainly bigger than many island nations.
There are too many numbers, in fact. The normal thing to do in an article like this would be to list the statistics and make an impressive argument, but numbers don’t always help. We need human scale. Google the numbers if you want; they will blow your mind.
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