{"id":2314,"date":"2022-10-25T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T23:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sondainternacional.com\/proyectos\/prueba-metro-manila\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T09:00:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T08:00:47","slug":"plastics-are-choking-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/sondainternacional.com\/en\/proyectos\/megacities-and-pollution\/plastics-are-choking-the-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastics Are Choking the Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It can be found in packaging, in electronic devices, in furniture, in textiles. It is in our cars, on trains and on planes, as well as in industrial machinery and everyday household items. The planet has been producing plastic on an industrial scale for more than seven decades. Consumption has quadrupled in the last 30 years, and annual production of this virtually indestructible material currently surpasses 400 million tons.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Despite the prominent position recycling holds in environmental conversations, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled, according to OECD<\/a> calculations. Another 50% ends up in landfills, 19% is incinerated, and 22% bypasses waste management schemes and is leaked into the environment. These are merely approximations. No one knows for certain the exact figures, but estimates suggest that nearly 140 million tons of plastic are to be found in our aquatic ecosystems: slightly more than 109 million tons are found in rivers, 30 million tons in seas and oceans, and nearly one million tons in lakes.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Where did it all come from? Again, there are significant discrepancies in the data depending on the research and methodology, but the World Bank<\/a> calculates that more than 80% of the plastic leaked into our oceans each year (between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons) comes from Asia, the most populated continent on the planet. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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A 2015 study in the journal Science<\/em><\/a> lists China, Indonesia and the Philippines as the top three countries responsible for plastic leak into the oceans every year. The findings of the report, which has been widely referenced by international media outlets, are based on statistics given the overwhelming lack of data on actual figures. Later research, however, points to countries like the United States or India, but the 2015 study was helpful “because it started the conversation and stimulated other studies and more scientific work\u201d, says Deo Onda, a researcher at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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If we look beyond finger-pointing and the absence of data we find Manila, a capital city that receives and generates millions of tons of waste each year, representing the paradigm of a system that is flooding the planet with a sea of plastic.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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The cities of Mandaluyong and Makati, separated by the Pasig River, as seen from the 33<\/span>rd<\/span> floor of a skyscraper in Makati, Metro Manila. \u00a9 Santi Palacios for Sonda Internacional<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n