S1E104: Putting people at the centre of the plastic waste crisis

Plastic's risks to the environment and human health far outweigh
the benefits. 


Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits
Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from
biodiversity conservation to climate change.


Bans on single-use plastics are essential, experts say. Nations
are also negotiating a global plastic pollution treaty to try to
bring the crisis under control. But more is needed. 


In this episode, ST's climate editor David Fogarty hosts Dr Sarah
Dunlop, who leads the Plastics & Human Health Research
Program at the Minderoo Foundation in Australia. She is also
Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia.


She tells Green Pulse that plastics are an incredible success
story and are used to make many things from bottles to carpets to
Dreamliner aircraft. And such is the demand for plastics that
production has soared in recent decades to more than 450 million
tonnes a year and it could reach more than 1 billion tonnes by
mid-century. 


Yet the majority of plastics ever made still exist – discarded in
landfills, or dumped in the environment. And only about 10
percent of plastics are currently recycled. 


Add to this the threat from more than 10,000 chemicals added to
plastics to make them flexible, flame retardant, different
colours and other characteristics. These chemicals leak out into
the environment and get inside the human body.


Chemicals associated with plastics have been linked to cancers,
miscarriages, hormonal changes, obesity and other serious health
impacts that cost billions of dollars a year. 


Highlights (click/tap above):


1:34 How great is the threat from plastics?


6:58 Singapore recycles 6 per cent of plastics but otherwise
produces 1 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, most of
which is incinerated; why is recycling plastics a real challenge?


13:10 What is the Minderoo Foundation, and what challenges it
tackles


15:50 What are some of the risks from the thousands of toxic
chemicals added to plastics?


22:00 Is it possible to urgently design plastics that are less
toxic? Solutions to reduce plastic consumption and waste


29:29 “The plastics treaty is a once-in-a-lifetime fantastic
opportunity”, says Dr Sarah Dunlop


Produced by: David Fogarty (dfogarty@sph.com.sg), Ernest
Luis, Hadyu Rahim & Paxton Pang


Edited by: Hadyu Rahim


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The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps):
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Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn


Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB


Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa


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