S1E104: Putting people at the centre of the plastic waste crisis

Aug 6, 2023

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Plastic's risks to the environment and human health far outweigh the benefits.

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

Bans on single-use plastics are essential, experts say. Nations are also negotiating a global plastic pollution treaty to try to bring the crisis under control. But more is needed.

In this episode, ST's climate editor David Fogarty hosts Dr Sarah Dunlop, who leads the Plastics & Human Health Research Program at the Minderoo Foundation in Australia. She is also Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia.

She tells Green Pulse that plastics are an incredible success story and are used to make many things from bottles to carpets to Dreamliner aircraft. And such is the demand for plastics that production has soared in recent decades to more than 450 million tonnes a year and it could reach more than 1 billion tonnes by mid-century.

Yet the majority of plastics ever made still exist – discarded in landfills, or dumped in the environment. And only about 10 percent of plastics are currently recycled.

Add to this the threat from more than 10,000 chemicals added to plastics to make them flexible, flame retardant, different colours and other characteristics. These chemicals leak out into the environment and get inside the human body.

Chemicals associated with plastics have been linked to cancers, miscarriages, hormonal changes, obesity and other serious health impacts that cost billions of dollars a year.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:34 How great is the threat from plastics?

6:58 Singapore recycles 6 per cent of plastics but otherwise produces 1 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, most of which is incinerated; why is recycling plastics a real challenge?

13:10 What is the Minderoo Foundation, and what challenges it tackles

15:50 What are some of the risks from the thousands of toxic chemicals added to plastics?

22:00 Is it possible to urgently design plastics that are less toxic? Solutions to reduce plastic consumption and waste

29:29 “The plastics treaty is a once-in-a-lifetime fantastic opportunity”, says Dr Sarah Dunlop

Produced by: David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim & Paxton Pang

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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