Plastic waste

Main article: Ecology in the world

Discussions about the dangers of plastic reached unprecedented intensity by the end of the 2010s. In developed countries, consumers have seriously thought about abandoning plastic packaging. First of all, from the one in which food and drinks are packed.

Of course, plastic containers are relatively inexpensive and allow you to maintain the taste and freshness of products. However, data on the volume of plastic entering the ocean seriously excited society, and it became obvious that serious changes were coming.

For the food industry, this means revising the packaging strategy, changing supply plans and seriously reformatting supplier chains. This is a huge amount of work that modern software solutions will help to cope^[1].

2024: Russian scientists have proposed a way to determine microplastics in nature

On July 1, 2024, representatives of the Perm Polytechnic reported that our way of determining microplastics in nature.

As reported, according to the State Report for 2022, the volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Russia amounted to almost 46 million tons, of which 5 million tons are plastic garbage. At the same time, annually only 14-18% of its total is collected for reuse. Everything else is sent for burial. Microplastic particles are found in all areas of the natural environment, as well as in living organisms, which worsens the ecological situation on the planet. To take timely action to protect the environment, around the world are looking for ways to quickly and accurately find plastic particles in soil, water and air. PNIPU scientists have developed technology for determining microplastics using neural networks and machine vision. Read more here.

2020: The ProPlastic application will help you find the nearest recycling point

On May 14, 2020, it became known that with the support of the company SIBUR , "" was developed and released mobile application , which in Pro-plastic early May became available for free to all users and. Android iOS More. here

2019: How many particles microplastics enter the human body

About 100 thousand particles per year. This is about 300 pieces a day, or somewhere in a particle every 5 minutes. Most of them are contained in water and beer, but they are enough in the air, and even in honey they are.

2018

Research on the dangers of plastic waste

According to McKinsey (December 2018)^[2], no more than 16% of all plastic waste is sent for recycling. A quarter of the waste is burned, and as much as 59% is buried at landfills, ends up in spontaneous landfills, or freely enters the environment. One way or another, most of the unfinished and unfired plastic turns into a serious pollutant - microplastics.

Scientists suggest microplastics could be harmful to animals and humans. It enters food chains when eaten by animals (from zooplankton to fish and birds), and can accumulate in the tissues of living organisms. Often plastic contains toxic impurities - dyes and fire-resistant additives. In addition, the microparticles are capable of absorbing pesticides and dioxins.

In 2016, humanity produced 260 million tons of plastic garbage. While maintaining the current pace of plastic production and the creation of plastic waste, 2030 million tons of garbage will go to the landfill by 460. And if now about 8 million tons of plastic per year enter the oceans, then by the indicated date, if nothing is done, these figures will grow to 14 million tons. The problem, which is already considered serious by researchers, will take on a completely different character.

Manufacturers ditch plastic packaging

Apparently, food manufacturers will really have to look for new solutions. Buyers are showing real interest in social responsibility for brands, so companies will have to do something about it.

In any case, whether this becomes a desire to join the trend of ethical consumption at the level of the brand's mission or will be exclusively a struggle for customer loyalty, the approaches to packaging will have to be reconsidered.

Some large companies have already announced plans to join the race of environmental initiatives.

Back in July 2018, Kraft Heinz^[3] announced its intention to make 100% of packaging materials used reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

Just a couple of months later, Coca-Cola^[4] said it would process one bottle or can for each unit of its product sold by 2030.

Finally, PepsiCo^[5] dollars $10 million in The Recycling Partnership as the start of the All In On Recycling initiative. This is an industry project whose task is to raise funds in the amount of $25 million to develop and improve recycling infrastructure.

Plastic waste in the world's oceans

2021: Western countries deliberately try to blame the clogging of the world's oceans with plastic on Asian countries

The United States, which ranks third in the scale of clogging of the world's oceans. Researchers have acknowledged that the US and Britain are taking huge amounts of plastic for burial to other countries and their contribution to clogging the world's oceans is key.]]

See also

• Incinerators of Russia
• Electronic waste in Russia
• Electrical Waste (Global Market) Electronic Waste
• Recycling of garbage
• Technologies in recycling

• Space debris

Notes