{"id":2840,"date":"2015-07-31T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2015-07-31T13:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=2840"},"modified":"2015-08-07T09:08:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T14:08:21","slug":"pe-plasticity-forum-focuses-on-innovative-solutions-to-the-plastics-waste-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/2840\/pe-plasticity-forum-focuses-on-innovative-solutions-to-the-plastics-waste-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Plasticity Forum Focuses on Innovative Solutions to the Plastics Waste Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waste plastic is a big problem. It has major implications for the health of humans, animals and sea creatures alike. It\u2019s a very visible pollution issue, and it creates a major headache, image-wise, for an otherwise useful, durable, versatile and downright irreplaceable material. So, what to do about it?<\/p>\n

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Trash as\u00a0a work of art?\u00a0“The Circle” was created by Liina Klauss for Plasticity Forum. Klauss and her colleagues collected 5 bags of trash from 45 km of Lisbon beach over 3 days prior to the meeting. The installation<\/a>\u00a0is meant to challenge traditional beliefs about garbage and spark conversations about marine pollution. “The Circle” will continue to be on display at Nova Lisbon University as a part of the Environmental Studies program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many smart people are working full-time on this challenge. Some of them gathered recently in Portugal to have what they called \u201ca big discussion about the future of plastic.\u201d The meeting \u2013 called The Plasticity Forum<\/a>, held June 8-9 in the coastal city of Cascais, near Lisbon \u2013 took a long, hard look at many of the broader aspects related to plastics waste recovery, reuse and management.<\/p>\n

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Doug Woodring is the founder of the Plasticity Forum and the Ocean Recovery Alliance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The event\u2019s founder, Doug Woodring, also is co-founder of the Hong Kong-based Ocean Recovery Alliance<\/a>, one of the first Non-Governmental Organizations to be working with both the United Nations Environment Program and the World Bank\u2019s Global Partnership for Oceans on their respective ocean programs.<\/p>\n

Woodring launched Plasticity in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012, and since has held it annually in Hong Kong, New York City and now Cascais. In Portugal, about 25 presenters from around the world addressed a gathering of more than 80 business and industry officials, sustainability experts, plastic producers and users, innovators and government representatives to discuss potential solutions to the growing plastic problem facing our land and marine environments. [Full disclosure: This reporter served as emcee for the event in Portugal.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Some recent research helped to frame the discussions that took place. Dr. Jenna Jambeck, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia\u2019s College of Engineering, led a team of researchers that completed the most comprehensive study yet about the amount of plastics finding their\u00a0way into the waterways of the world \u2013 and the results were pretty scary. Published in the journal Science<\/em> this past February, this was the team\u2019s summary:<\/p>\n

\u201cBy linking worldwide\u2028 data on solid waste, population density, and economic status, we estimated the mass\u2028 of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean. We calculate that 275 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, with 4.8 to 12.7 million MT entering the ocean. Population size and the quality of waste management systems largely determine which countries contribute the greatest mass of uncaptured waste available to become plastic marine debris. Without waste management infrastructure improvements, the cumulative quantity of plastic waste available to enter the ocean from land is predicted to increase by an order of magnitude by 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Dr. Mike Biddle and the Basel Action Network.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They defined \u201cmismanaged waste\u201d as material that is either littered or inadequately disposed. Such waste eventually could enter the ocean via inland waterways, wastewater outflows, and transport by wind or tides. Using 2010 data, the study looked at coastal countries and attempted to estimate the total amount of mismanaged plastic waste for those living within 50 km, or about 30 miles, of a coastline.<\/p>\n

This study indicated that countries in Asia made up the top six offenders. Some may question the metrics and findings, but it\u2019s clear this is an issue for the entire planet.<\/p>\n

Nearly all at Plasticity likely would describe themselves as pro-environment, but many also were practical business people who recognize the value of plastics as a material. Their goal is not to ban or bash, but to find viable ways to minimize plastics\u2019 footprint on the planet, while also extracting maximum value from the material \u2013 not only during but also after its initial, functional life.<\/p>\n

Plasticity keynote speaker Dr. Mike Biddle, founder of durable-goods recycler MBA Polymers<\/a> and CEO of Material Solutions<\/a>, a San Francisco-based adviser to clean-tech companies, noted: \u201cSubstituting a variety of plastics packaging with non-plastics alternative would increase the amount of packaging generated annually in the U.S. by 55 million tons.\u201d Biddle, a former Dow Chemical research manager and the only person to have spoken at all four Plasticity conferences to date, told attendees: \u201cThis means that plastics help to significantly reduce packaging weight, which results in more product shipped with less packaging, fewer trucks on the road, less energy used, less greenhouse gas emissions and less material to recover or recycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"logo_Plasticity2015\"As a way forward, he urges responsible resource management, meaning:<\/p>\n