The Heinrich Böll Foundation and the movement Break Free From Plastic have published the international English edition of the Plastic Atlas, a document that contains more than 45 detailed infographics covering a broad range of topics regarding the global plastic pollution crisis.
The document highlights the scale of the crisis and the global impacts of plastic production, consumption and disposal on other key global challenges such as human health and the climate crisis. It also outlines the role of plastic for key industrial sectors, such as agriculture and tourism, and describes the corporate interests and drivers behind plastic. Finally, the atlas presents an overview of key plastic-free regulations, zero-waste solutions and a snapshot of the growing global movement working towards a future free from plastic pollution.
The document is equally relevant to countries in the Global South, including the Southern African region. Niven Reddy, Acting Coordinator of GAIA and the Break Free From Plastic movement in South Africa, highlights the role of waste pickers in waste management structures. “Particularly in Africa, where basic waste collection is not provided in many parts of the continent, waste pickers provide the invaluable service of diverting tonnes of materials from the environment”. He referred to the example of the door-to-door operations by waste pickers as part of the Vaal Park project in Sasolburg, South Africa
The Plastic Atlas further showcases the brand audit activities that the Break Free From Plastic movement has been engaging in for the past two years, directly aimed at exposing the brands responsible for producing packaging designed to be thrown away.
President of Heinrich Böll Foundation’s, Barbara Unmüßig called for global action to address the crisis at its source: “A ban on single-use plastics makes sense, but will not be sufficient to end one of the biggest environmental crises of the planet. The unlimited availability of cheap oil and gas as raw materials for plastic production prevents effective recycling strategies and blocks a real circular economy. Regional and global politics must hold the plastic industry accountable and define a clear and strict framework for the reduction of overall plastic production and consumption,” Unmüßig emphasized. Head of the International Environmental Policy Division at Heinrich Böll Foundation, Lili Fuhr said: “Since 99% of all plastics are made of fossil fuels and produce enormous amounts of greenhouse gas, it is clear that the solutions to the plastic and climate crisis need to go hand in hand.
