Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured. We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date. As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.

Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made

Plastic debris in the marine environment is widely documented, but the quantity of plastic entering the ocean from waste generated on land is unknown. By linking worldwide data on solid waste, population density, and economic status, we estimated the mass 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.

Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean

Supplementary Materials for Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean

http://faculty.wwu.edu/~shulld/ESCI%20101/Andrady2011Plastics.pdf

Microplastics in the marine environment

One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics. Within just a few decades since mass production of plastic...

/pdf/accumulation-and-fragmentation-of-plastic-debris-in-global-2ayi1pcd8z.pdf

Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments.

Increased rates of municipal solidwaste (MSW) recycling are resulting in large increases in the amount of material available for reuse. We present a framework for assessment of the technical and bu...

Framework for Assessment of Recycle Potential Applied to Plastics

Estimates of methane emissions from landfills rely primarily on models due to both technical and economic limitations. While models are easy to implement, there is uncertainty due to the use of parameters that are difficult to validate. The objective of this research was to compare modeled emissions using several greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting protocols including: (1) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); (2) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (EPA GHGRP); (3) California Air Resources Board (CARB); and (4) Solid Waste Industry for Climate Solutions (SWICS), with measured emissions data collected over three calendar years from a young landfill with no gas collection system. By working with whole landfill measurements of fugitive methane emissions and methane oxidation, the collection efficiency could be set to zero, thus eliminating one source of parameter uncertainty. The models consistently overestimated annual methane emissions by a factor ranging...

Comparison of Field Measurements to Methane Emissions Models at a New Landfill.

Enumeration of anaerobic refuse-decomposing micro-organisms on refuse constituents

There is increasing interest in diverting the organic fraction of municipal solid waste from landfills to biological treatment processes that result in compost. Due to variations in compost quality and available markets, it is not always possible for compost to be beneficially used on soil. In such cases, compost may be used as alternative daily cover (ADC) in landfills. The objective of this study is to compare the environmental impacts of using compost as a soil amendment, accounting for its beneficial substitutions for fertilizer and peat, to its use as ADC. Monte Carlo simulation and parametric sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate the effects of uncertainty in input values on the environmental performance. The ADC scenario outperforms the soil amendment scenario in terms of global warming potential, acidification, and eutrophication in ∼63, ∼77, and ∼100% of simulations, respectively, while the soil amendment scenario is better in terms of cumulative energy demand and abiotic resource depletion potential ∼94 and ∼96% of the time, respectively. Therefore, we recommend that using compost as ADC be considered, especially when site-specific factors such as feedstock contamination or a lack of markets make it difficult to find appropriate applications for compost as a soil amendment.

What Is the Best End Use for Compost Derived from the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste

Four mesophilic, irregular, rod-shaped methanogenic bacteria were isolated from decomposing refuse recovered from laboratory-scale reactors and a municipal solid waste landfill. H2/CO2 was the only substrate on which the isolates could grow in a complex medium. Isolates grew between either 25° or 30° and 45°C and between pH 6 and 8. One isolate exhibited growth at pH 5. Growth of each isolate was enhanced by yeast extract and inhibited by anaerobic sewage sludge supernatant fluid. No isolate showed greater than 25% lysis on exposure to 1% sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) for 24 h, as is typical of methanogens with a proteinaceous cell wall. The physiological traits of the methanogens isolated here are similar to many previously characterized isolates.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2672.1997.00154.x

Morton A. Barlaz

Papers

Framework for Assessment of Recycle Potential Applied to Plastics

Comparison of Field Measurements to Methane Emissions Models at a New Landfill.

Enumeration of anaerobic refuse-decomposing micro-organisms on refuse constituents

What Is the Best End Use for Compost Derived from the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste

Isolation and characterization of refuse methanogens