Plastic to Outnumber Fish in Ocean by 2050 at Current Consumption Rate
Plastic bottle on a beach. File photo.
InternationalIndiaAfricaMOSCOW (Sputnik) – There will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050 if people keep consuming the materials at current consumption rate, with around 10 million tonnes of plastic waste discharged into the ocean per year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko told Sputnik. “It is just horrible when each banana and candy is in a separate package. And it is us who has made it all together as consumers … This could lead to disaster: 10 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every year, and by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish if people continue to consume like this,” Abramchenko said. In this regard, the government’s task is to encourage businesses to invest in recycling, the Russian senior official added. “Waste sorting has already become a standard project that the regions have learned to implement. Meanwhile, the creation of utilization capacities remains a difficult task and my role is to remind all participants of the process that we must lower the waste burial twice,” Abramchenko said, stressing the need to change the culture of consumption to achieve this goal. At the same time, the Russian deputy prime minister told Sputnik that the Russian business was ready to invest in new recycling technologies. In particular, 25 companies have already signed agreements for construction of 44 production facilities at the recently created eco-industrial parks under the new project dubbed “Circular Economy.”
