Plastic to outweigh fish in oceans by 2050, study warns

“This report demonstrates the importance of triggering a revolution in the plastics industrial ecosystem”, Dominic Waughray of the World Economic Forum said in a statement, “and is a first step to showing how to transform the way plastics move through our economy”.

The World Economic Forum report estimates that by 2025, there will be one tonne of plastics for every three tonnes of fish, and by 2050 the oceans will contain more plastics than fish by weight.

The report also notes that an overwhelming 95 percent of plastic packaging worth $80-120 billion (73-110 billion euros) a year is lost to the economy after a single use.

Plastic is one of the world’s most popular materials, and its use has increased 20-fold over the past 50 years with the rate only expected to multiply in the coming decades. However, when recycled plastic can be made into new bottles, carpeting, and even clothing.

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The report claims that each year “at least 8 million tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean – which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute”. The research finds that 32% of all plastic packaging escapes collection systems, imposing economic costs by hurting natural systems like the ocean or clogging urban infrastructure.

The researchers conclude that in order to get closer to the goal of a “circular economy”-where “consumption happens only in effective bio-cycles; elsewhere use replaces consumption”-both the public and private sector must work towards the goal of creating plastics that can be both recycled and composted”.

‘Plastics are the workhorse material of the modern economy with unbeaten properties.

Achieving such systemic change, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said in a statement, will “require major collaboration”, including from consumer goods companies, plastics manufacturers, businesses involved in collection and recycling and policymakers.

The report proposes the creation of “an independent coordinating vehicle” to set direction, establish common standards and systems, overcome fragmentation and foster innovation opportunities, enabling large-scale pilots and “moon shot” innovations.

Martin R. Stuchtey from the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment says in the report. “We hope that this will help the United Kingdom and other nations achieve the new European circulatory targets and reduce the need to import virgin oil feedstock”.