THE FATE OF PLASTICS IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Much progress remains to be made to reduce environmental pollution by plastic waste, even if it has been collected as much as possible from users. In 2016, Europe produced around 60 million tonnes of plastic, 40% of which was used as packaging. These are generally only used once and their useful life is short, most often less than a year (Geyer et al., 2017). They are then considered as waste, which is collected and transported to sorting centers. That same year, 27 million tonnes of plastic waste were collected, of which around 60% came from packaging. When sorting centers leave, only 30% of the plastics collected are intended for recycling. This is complex because highly selective sorting is essential and only a very small fraction of them (less than about 10%) will actually be recycled in a closed loop. A little over half will be reused after mechanical or chemical recycling in low-cost products. The rest will be lost, either incinerated or released into the environment.