Plastic Atlas

02 IMPRINT

06 INTRODUCTION

08 12 BRIEF LESSONS

ON PLASTIC AND THE PLANET

10 HISTORY

BREAKTHROUGH IN THREE LETTERS

The first plastics imitated ivory and silk and attracted just a limited market. Things took  off after World War II with the rise of PVC.  Cheap plastics soon conquered the world.

12 THROWAWAY CULTURE

WHY THE WORLD IS WALLOWING IN WASTE

Until the 1950s, people treated plastic with the same respect as they did glass or silk. Then consumer-goods companies discovered the advantages of polymers. A lifestyle emerged that generates increasing amounts of trash.

14 USAGE

BLESSING AND CURSE

Plastics have become indispensable. They are found in plastic bags, smartphones and car dashboards. But almost

half of all plastic products end up as waste within less than a month. Only a fraction is recycled.

16 HEALTH

FOOD CHEMISTRY

The effects of runaway plastic production on the environment

can no longer be ignored. Its consequences for

human health are less well known — from the extraction of

raw materials through to waste disposal.

18 GENDER

OVEREXPOSED

Women are more affected than men by plastics. Biological

reasons are part of the problem: their

bodies react in different

ways to toxins, and the hygiene products that women

use are often contaminated. But alternatives do exist.

20 FOOD

TASTY MORSELS

The food industry is a big user of plastic. Films  and foams are meant to shield food from  damage, keep it fresh, and make it look attractive. But beauty has a price: the plastic lands on fields and gets into our food system.

22 CLOTHING

WEARING THIN

At first sight, fabrics made from synthetic  fibers have many advantages. They are cheap,  dry quickly, and shape themselves to the body. But they have become disposable articles and contribute significantly to climate change. They may also be harmful to human health.

24 TOURISM

TURNING THE TIDE ON THE TIDE OF TRASH?

Sun-kissed beaches, swaying palm trees… and  a knee-deep band of garbage at the water’s edge. Tourists come to see pristine beauty, but help destroy it through their carelessness, and because garbage systems cannot cope.

26 CLIMATE CHANGE

NOT GREEN, BUT GREENHOUSE

Plastics are sometimes seen as environmentally friendlier than other materials — not least because of their light weight. But the plastics boom is pumping huge amounts of greenhouse  gases into the atmosphere.

28 WATER

ALL AT SEA?

Marine pollution is fed mainly by trash floating down rivers, like smog is fed by fires and smokestacks. But plastic does not stay long in the open ocean. It moves into shallower waters, sinks to the sea floor, or is washed ashore.

30 CORPORATIONS

BLAMING THE CONSUMER

Masters in lobbying, petrochemicals firms and plastic producers focus attention on waste management and recycling so they can evade their responsibility for the true problem: the growth in the volume of plastics being made.

32 AFFLUENCE

THE CHILD OF GLOBAL TRADE

Global economic growth since World War II would not have been possible without plastic. Plastics are both the result of globalization  and a fuel that powers it. Online shopping is piling mounds of rubbish higher still. 

34 “BIOPLASTICS”

REPLACING OIL WITH MAIZE IS NO SOLUTION

Plastics made from renewable raw materials  are supposed to be environmentally friendly. They degrade more quickly — at least, according to their corporate backers. A close look shows that they create a new set of problems.

36 WASTE MANAGEMENT

WE CANNOT RECYCLE OUR WAY OUT OF THE PLASTIC CRISIS

It is a widespread misconception: as long as we separate our waste into different types, we do  not have to change our consumption patterns. But the reality is different: a large proportion  of  plastic waste is not recycled, much of it incinerated or ends up in the environment.

38 WASTE EXPORTS

THE RUBBISH DUMP IS CLOSED

What to do with your unwanted plastic bottles and bags? Simple: send them somewhere else. Until recently, much of the developed world’s hard-to-recycle waste was shipped off to China. That is no longer an option.

40 WASTE PICKING

SCRAPS FROM THE TABLE

In many poor countries, waste pickers take over the tasks of the municipal garbage truck and waste-processing plants. They divert a significant amount of waste back into productive uses.

42 REGULATION

SOLUTIONS AT THE WRONG END

There is no lack of agreements and initiatives to manage the plastic crisis. But almost all address waste disposal only; they are not coordinated with each other, and they absolve manufacturers of their responsibilities.

44 CIVIL SOCIETY

HOW THE PLASTIC-FREE MOVEMENT IS EXPOSING THE GIANTS

The global Break Free From Plastic civil society movement is working to stop  plastic pollution  for good. It is using public  exposure and transparency to put corporations under pressure.

46 ZERO WASTE

STOPPING THE PROBLEM AT THE SOURCE

Recycling alone cannot solve the plastic crisis. New ideas are needed that tackle the roots  of the problem. A growing movement is showing how that can work — and a few pioneering  cities and towns are blazing the trail.

48 LOCAL INTIATIVES

TOWARDS BANNING SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS IN TUNISIA

In order to fight the plastic pollution that Tunisia is experiencing given the increasing amount of plastic waste, a new governmental decree has been declared banning single-use plastic bags. This step was preceded by a series of procedures that paved the way for it, but the effectiveness of this decree is predicated on a strict implementation and a clear vision.

50 TUNISIA

TUNISIAN ISLANDS ARE SUFFOCATING WITH PLASTIC

Tunisia, with its sixty islands and islets overlooking the coast, suffers from a plastic plague that causes pollution

that looms as far as the eye can see.

52 ECO-LEF TUNISIA

PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT IN TUNISIA: TOWARDS A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

Plastic, with its different sizes, presents an imminent threat to public health and one that is fatal for terrestrial and marine fauna and flora. The good management of plastic waste, which includes production, marketing, use, collection and recycling, is essentially linked to the economic policy, social aspects, and the environmental measures taken by the country.

54 ZERO MIKA OR THE DIFFICULTY IN GETTING RID OF PLASTIC BAGS IN MOROCCO

SOMETIMES, PASSING A LAW IS JUST NOT ENOUGH...

Four years after the ban on plastic bags in Morocco, one can notice that they are still used extensively. Efforts have been put into action to formalise this ban, but some of the approaches adopted since the law 77-15 was passed have had limited effects.

56 MOROCCO’S PLASTIC PLAGUE

A FORMAL SYSTEM… WITH INFORMAL CONNECTIONS

Plastic represents 10 percent of household waste in Morocco or around 690,000 tonnes a year. There is also a lot

of plastic found in industrial waste (granules, industrial packaging waste...) and in waste produced by the agricultural sector.

Yet, only a very small portion of this is recycled.

58 PALESTINE

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT UNDER OCCUPATION

Palestinians face many difficulties in solid waste management due to the policies of the occupation, but waste

amounts are increasing due to both population growth and consumption patterns. This calls for better management and a concerted effort among all sectors to find solutions to this problem.

61 JORDAN

GOVERNMENTAL MEASURES ARE LIMITED TO SOLID WASTE, ALBEIT SHY INITIATIVES FOR SORTING AND RECYCLING

In light of the absence of governmental plans and programs for waste management in Jordan, sorting and recycling processes for plastic waste are limited to individual initiatives by activists and environmental organizations. Solid waste rates have increased to about 1.662 million tons annually, despite the existence of legislations that regulate this process.

64 AUTHORS AND SOURCES FOR  DATA AND GRAPHICS

66 ABOUT US