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According to a new study, less than ten percent of plastic waste worldwide is recycled. Of the 400 million tons of plastic produced in 2022, only 9.5 percent came from recycled materials.
“The global recycling rate is stagnating”, according to a study published in the journal ‘Communications Earth & Environment’ by a research team from Beijing’s Tsinghua University. While more and more plastic is being produced, there has been hardly any progress in recycling.
The low recycling rate means that fossil fuels – mainly oil and gas – are used for around 90 percent of plastic production, which threatens environmental and climate protection worldwide. One of the main reasons for the low recycling rate is the high cost of plastic processing.
Negotiations on UN agreement in August
According to the report, the USA has the highest per capita consumption of plastic, where recycling is also low. According to the study, the recycling rate in the United States is five percent. According to the research team, they analyzed national statistics and industry reports as well as international databases.
The researchers hope that the results of their study will support the negotiations planned for August on a first UN agreement to reduce plastic waste. The negotiations were postponed in December after delegates from almost 200 countries were unable to reach an agreement in Busan, South Korea.
Plastic pollution is an increasingly pressing problem. Residues of highly persistent plastic pollution have now been detected in the remotest parts of the world and in practically every part of the human body.
- source:orf.at/picture:npixabay.com
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