Image credit: Nick Fewings via Unsplash
Everyday should be Earth Day as she consistently blesses us with an abundant supply of everything we need to survive, thrive, have good health & wellbeing. However, it’s sufficient to say we continue to wreck many elements of this beautiful planet. What we often fail to realise is that as we destroy the planet, we’re destroying ourselves - our health in particular.
The amount of plastic waste produced globally is expected to nearly triple by 2060, with around half ending up in landfill and less than a fifth recycled, according to a 2022 OECD report. It projects that global plastics consumption will rise from 460 million tonnes in 2019 to 1,231 million tonnes in 2060 at the current rate of plastics production and use. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
In Australia, 3.4 million tonnes of plastic is consumed each year which is equivalent to 72 Sydney Harbour Bridges. By 2049-50, this is expected to rise to 9.7 million tonnes. By 2050, the amount of plastic consumed in Australia will more than double. Only 14% of plastic waste is kept out of landfill.
Microplastics are ubiquitous - in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Scientific studies estimate that humans ingest between 0.1 grams to 5 grams – which is equivalent to an entire credit card’s worth of microplastics every week. The microplastics are a vessel where these toxic chemicals enter our system and get into our bloodstream, tissues and digestive system. Microplastics are being found in the placenta of newborn babies. Plastics are associated with diseases such as birth defects, cancer, endocrine toxicity and lung cancer.
Majority of people in Australia and the rest of the world are unaware or it’s very much out of sight, out of mind for them and they just don’t care about the plastics waste and pollution crisis. For some, they are just trying to imminently survive economic and other life crises, therefore, the earth’s wellbeing is naturally less of a priority. For people with the bandwidth to take action, knowledge of health issues associated with microplastics can be a much stronger motivator towards action and advocacy than just pollution alone.
Health risks can affect everyone and therefore is a more relevant conversation to almost every individual. This is why circularity and environmental movements will likely have even more effective results in the plastics pollution discourse if the health aspect of it is the leading topic of educational and awareness campaigns and conversations. Of course this is not to be used as a scare tactic, so it it’s critical to verify any statistics and data used in these endeavours.
These are some statistics and information on plastics and human health from a workshop I attended by Minderoo Films / Minderoo Foundation:
There are over 16,000 chemicals used in plastics. 4,200 chemicals are considered to be highly hazardous to human health, with 11,000 chemicals not yet assessed
Due to the huge volume of plastics in everyday life, the impacts of these chemicals are almost unavoidable
There is evidence that plastics may cause obesity, lower IQ and hypertension.
Data shows a drop in male sperm count of 1% per year for 5 decades, future generations will likely experience infertility
Significant increase in heart disease and stroke in people who have higher levels of micro and nano plastics
If we stopped using these chemicals, we would see a rapid change in exposure (the chemicals are short lived in the body).
I recommend learning more about the impact of plastics on health if you can. Minderoo has some great resources, and you can read up on from here.
The Australia Institute Plastic Waste in Australia report (page 4) from January 2024 covers some health risks.
As we celebrate the earth, we can remind ourselves that our bodies came from and will eventually return to the earth. It’s part of us and we are part of it. As we take care of the earth, it takes care of us.