A sea turtle with a straw lodged in its nostril. A beached whale, dead — and when autopsied, its stomach found to be packed full of plastic bags. These horrifying images are surely seared into your memory. Plastic products have been in widespread daily use for less than a century since their invention, and humanity welcomed the dawn of the petrochemical age with great optimism, believing life would only improve. Ironically, what began as a well-intentioned invention has now ushered in a deeply alarming ecological catastrophe — because humankind simply does not have the capacity to deal with all this waste.
The wastewater generated from washing waste plastics and the toxic substances produced from incineration both cause significant harm to the environment and to human health.
June 8 is World Oceans Day. The ocean is the lungs of our planet — the majority of the oxygen we breathe is produced by the sea. This year, the United Nations has set the theme as "Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean." Yet ironically, even as environmental awareness reaches new heights, governments around the world roll out plastic reduction policies and campaigns, and consumers grow ever more diligent about recycling, the wastewater from washing waste plastics and the toxic substances released during incineration continue to inflict considerable damage on both the environment and human health. And by 2050, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
The Discovery Channel's World Oceans Day special, The Truth About Plastic, will take you behind the scenes of this environmental issue and explore who bears responsibility for this cascading ecological tragedy that has sent our planet's health into crisis. Are governments around the world still powerless in the face of these environmental challenges? Tune in to Discovery Channel's World Oceans Day special, The Truth About Plastic, at 10 p.m. on Monday, June 8, and trace this crisis back to its roots to uncover the full scale of the disaster caused by plastic proliferation.
Up to 40% of what Filipino fishermen haul in on a typical day is plastic waste. Scientists grimly predict that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
Does the Garbage Crisis Cut Human Lifespans by 20 Years? More Plastic Than Fish in the Ocean by 2050? Who Is Responsible for This Ocean Tragedy?
After the global hardship of the Great Depression and World War II, consumerism surged and the plastics industry boomed. Touted as "the greatest invention of the modern age" for its toughness and durability, plastic's very strengths are precisely what make it an environmental killer. More than 90% of plastic is derived from fossil fuels — meaning the oil companies we all know are simultaneously major plastic producers. In Delhi, India, a city of over 15 million people, the Ghazipur landfill must absorb nearly half of the entire city's waste, with devastating consequences for the surrounding environment. Research shows that residents in this area have an average life expectancy 15 to 20 years shorter than normal. Locals say, helplessly, that the only lasting legacy of plastic products is mountains of garbage. In the Philippines, seafood and fish are a cornerstone of the culinary culture, yet one fisherman from Manila Bay recounted that up to 40% of his daily catch is plastic waste. When researchers examined the state of the world's oceans, they found plastic concentrations far exceeding scientific expectations — with 8 million metric tonnes of plastic entering the sea every year. That's the equivalent of a garbage truck's worth of plastic waste being dumped into the ocean every single minute, day after day. Scientific literature grimly predicts that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. Plastic has become utterly pervasive in our lives: recent sampling studies have found microplastics in 83% of tap water and 93% of bottled water worldwide.
Due to inadequate infrastructure — including waste management and collection systems — in developing nations, plastic products are destined to bring upon their people an unbearable natural catastrophe.
The Plastic Crisis in Developing Nations — Regulating Multinational Corporations Is the Only Cure
Before plastics became ubiquitous in everyday life, people habitually used reusable containers like glass jars to store food, and the public was accustomed to eating fresh, unprocessed ingredients rather than snacks swathed in layer upon layer of plastic packaging. But when multinational corporations brought their products to developing nations wrapped in non-recyclable multilayer packaging, plastic waste began to accumulate uncontrollably. With incomplete infrastructure — from waste management to collection systems — these countries were destined to be overwhelmed by a natural disaster of their own making.
Ending the production of single-use plastic products and finding alternative materials to replace conventional plastics are the only ways to truly and completely solve the plastic problem.
In the past, Western nations routinely baled their waste and shipped it by container to China, selling it to Chinese recyclers. But after China launched its "National Sword" policy banning waste imports, the West received a rude awakening and was finally forced to confront this indestructible enemy — plastic — and to think about reducing plastic at the source of production. After all, the one who ties the knot must be the one to untie it. The only way to truly and completely solve the plastic problem, therefore, is to hold manufacturers accountable: to end the production of single-use plastics and seek alternative materials to replace conventional plastic products. Discovery Channel's The Truth About Plastic premieres at 10 p.m. on June 8. Join Discovery in tracing the issue to its very roots, uncovering the secrets the plastics industry has kept hidden, and confronting the necessity of living a plastic-reduced life — for all of our sakes.
Plastic's toughness and durability earned it the title of "the greatest invention of the modern age" — yet those very same qualities are precisely what make it an environmental killer.
About Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is the flagship television channel of the Discovery Communications group, dedicated to producing the world's highest-quality factual programming and one of the most dynamic channels on television. Launched in 1985, Discovery Channel now reaches 220 million households across the Asia-Pacific region. The channel offers viewers a rich and diverse slate of high-quality factual entertainment, covering classic wildlife documentaries, science and engineering, history and civilization, culture, and adventure. To learn more about Discovery Channel, visit www.discoverychannel.com.tw or search "Discovery 頻道" on Facebook.
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