2023-04-19 19:38:33
The city of Karuizawa in central Japan is one of the elegant tourist cities, and for this reason many political, economic and sports events are held in it periodically, and it is an inspiring city to raise issues related to the environment and innovation, and the transformations resulting from the use of renewable energy, whether in the meetings of the twenty countries that were held in 2019, or The recent meetings of the Group of Seven major industrialized countries, in which the major industrialized countries pledged to end any new plastic pollution in their countries by 2040, while at the end of May a new round of negotiations will begin in Paris to reach a legally binding treaty under the auspices of the United Nations by the end of May. 2024, and among the main measures under negotiation are a global ban on single-use plastics, a “make polluter pay” principle, and a tax on the production of new plastics.
The danger of plastic on land is largely represented in those lands designated for plastic waste dumps. Due to the accumulation of large quantities of waste, some microorganisms multiply that accelerate the biodegradation process of plastic materials, which leads to the production of methane gas, which is the gas that primarily contributes to carbon dioxide. occurrence of global warming. Some countries are working to install devices to collect gas from landfills and use it in energy production, but this matter cannot be applied in all parts of the world, which makes the problem still present. In addition, groundwater wells are affected by the toxins of plastic waste, and thus become undrinkable.
Plastic residues have been found almost everywhere, from the Arctic to Antarctica, in small and large cities, in villages, in camps and national parks, and even accumulate on Mount Everest, according to various reports on the environment, and the spread of plastic is increasing everywhere. The world’s oceans, where mountains of plastic waste were found on a small uninhabited atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it was observed in the deepest spot on Earth in the Mariana Trench, which drops to a depth of 10,994 meters below sea level, and today there are huge patches of Floating plastic is slowly spinning in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Today, plastic pollution has reached a point where it has become the greatest threat to plants, animals, and humans. These materials do not decompose easily and it takes a thousand years for that. Even if this is done, they leak as toxic substances into the soil and water. Currently, these highly used materials are not recycled except in small quantities.
According to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme, scientists warn that the impact of microplastics in soil, sediment and fresh water is negative and long-term in terrestrial ecosystems, whether on land or in the sea, and they draw attention to the fact that pollution of plastic particles on land is much higher than pollution of plastic particles. Marine, which is estimated to be four to 23 times as large. More than 400 million tons of plastic is produced globally each year, and it is estimated that a third of all plastic waste ends up in soil or fresh water.
Most of this plastic disintegrates into particles smaller than five millimeters, referred to as microplastics, and further decomposes into nanoparticles, less than 0.1 micrometers in size. Researchers have noted that wastewater is an important factor in the distribution of microplastics, as there are between 80 to 90 Per cent of the particles in wastewater, such as those found in clothing fibers. Wastewater is often used in different ways, which means that several thousand tons of microplastics end up in the soil every year. Not only that, it has The researchers found that the surfaces of the tiny plastic fragments carried pathogenic organisms and acted as vectors of disease in the environment.
In 2020, more than half of the plastics were sourced from Asia, and China’s production alone represents a third of the global total (32 percent), and Europe produced 55 million tons of plastic. That global plastic production will double by 2040 and “will accelerate the climate crisis, and according to current trends, its use will increase in all G20 countries by 2050 to about double the level recorded in 2019, to reach 451 million tons annually, and the United Nations estimates that the amount of plastic thrown into Oceans will nearly triple by 2040.
In front of these horrific facts, plastic is the biggest enemy that surrounds all humanity, and it applies to us from everywhere and works in silence, and we are the ones who feed this enemy and exaggerate its size, while it lurks for us on land, in the sea, and in the air, and slowly we are approaching the point of no return , and all of humanity becomes a prisoner of this enemy of growing strength, and unfortunately none of all the promises made since scholars began to warn of the power of this enemy have been fulfilled, and if the slogan raised by the seven countries in their last meeting and the adoption of the principle of “making the polluters pay” He may suggest that taxes will bear fruit, as he will not offer more than making the final consumer pay the price for products that he can only receive in the envelopes of companies over which he has no authority. Reports of international news agencies indicated that 20 companies in the world are responsible for half of what he produces. The world is full of single-use plastics, so taxes won’t do much good. Restrictions and taxes have been imposed on single-use plastics in more than 120 countries, but they don’t do enough to reduce pollution. The truth is that there is human addiction to these substances by using them in all aspects of life, and the matter must be dealt with more strictly, and global organizations must be formed with great and generous support in order to stop this huge and dangerous deterioration.
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