Rotary Environment 1090 - Magazine - Page 36
“Plastic is fantastic”
by Gert-Jan van Dommelen - co-founder
EndPlasticSoup
Plastic is a fantastic product and we use it every day in
many di昀昀erent products and applications, light weight, long
life and cheap. Unfortunately plastic also causes huge
problems as many countries cannot process the waste.
Plastic never disappears it just breaks into smaller and
smaller pieces. Microplastics (0.1-5 mm) and nanoplastics
(smaller than 0.1 mm) are causing real issues for our
climate, our life on planet Earth and our health. In the past
couple of years, researchers have found more and more
data, and knowledge has been gained regarding the impact
of nanoplastics and the poisonous additives often used with
them.
Plastic is in the water, in our soil and in the air
Nanoplastics are one of the major causes for the reduced
CO2 absorption of our planet: only 25% comes from all trees
and green vegetation, while 50-60% absorption is processed
by plankton in the oceans and 20% by soil and the fungi in it.
The capacity of these natural CO2 storage have been
reduced by 40%, mainly due to microplastics.
