DAILY TRIFECTA: We're Choking On A Plastic Glut

I want to say one word to you. Just one word: Insanity!

TITLE: Petrochemical glut makes new plastic cheaper than recycled
https://www.ft.com/content/6b3f4405-a994-4fb1-b667-1f49c5357db8

EXCERPTS: A steep increase in petrochemical production in China and the US has led to a global oversupply of industrial chemicals used in plastics, sending the price of new material so low that its recycled alternative has become uneconomical to use. China was responsible for 60 per cent of petrochemical capacity increases in 2023, according to new figures from S&P Global.

Production has also surged in the US on the back of the shale gas boom, leading to a level of oversupply of materials such as polyethylene not seen since the 1980s. The glut of virgin plastic presents a challenge to companies trying to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics in the face of stricter regulation and government pledges to reduce plastic waste pollution.

“Petrochemical overcapacity and the resulting lower prices for virgin material make life harder for producers of recycled plastics,” said Ciarán Healy, analyst at the International Energy Agency.

Ethylene capacity rose nearly 42mn tonnes last year compared with 2019, while global demand grew by only about 14mn tonnes. Ethylene is produced from hydrocarbons derived from oil and natural gas and is a feedstock for the most widely used plastic, polyethylene.

The oversupply has left the sector operating well below full capacity, with global utilisation rates dropping from about 90 per cent in 2019 to below 82 per cent last year as prices tumbled.

The petrochemical glut has piled pressure on recycled plastic manufacturers, which are struggling to compete with far cheaper virgin materials. According to S&P, the price of recycled HDPE prices has fallen dramatically from highs of $2,954 a tonne earlier this year but, at $1,631 a tonne, remains considerably more costly than its virgin counterpart.

Before 2019, recycled plastic used to be cheaper than virgin products. But demand for the material rocketed as consumer goods companies set targets to cut their reliance on virgin plastics in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprints and plastic waste

TITLE: Study Finds Little Difference Between Plastic in Seafood, Meat, and Plant-Based Proteins—It’s All Contaminated
https://www.food-safety.com/articles/9153-study-finds-little-difference-between-plastic-in-seafood-meat-and-plant-based-proteinsits-all-contaminated

EXCERPT: A new study led by researchers at Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto found microplastics particles in 88 percent of protein food samples across 16 types, including seafood, pork, beef, chicken, tofu, and three different plant-based meat alternatives. The study also found no statistical difference in microplastics concentrations between land- and ocean-sourced proteins.

Past research has demonstrated the presence of microplastics in the digestive tracts of commercial fish and shellfish, but there has been little examination of whether these microplastics are entering the filets of fish, or whether plastic particles are present in terrestrial proteins like beef, chicken, or plant-based sources.

Specifically, the study included samples of store-purchased breaded shrimp, minced pollock, fish sticks, white Gulf shrimp (headless/shell-on), Key West pink shrimp (headless/shell-on), Alaska Pollock fillets (skinless), chicken nuggets, top sirloin steaks, pork loin chops, chicken breasts, plant-based nuggets, plant-based fish sticks, plant-based ground beef, and tofu blocks.

The researchers believe that food processing is a likely source of microplastics contamination, as highly processed protein products like fish sticks, chicken nuggets, tofu, and plant-based burgers contained significantly more microplastics per gram than minimally processed products like packaged wild Alaska pollock, raw chicken breast, and other foods. However, no statistical difference was found between high-processed products and fresh-caught products, suggesting that food processing is not the only source of microplastics contamination.

Notably, across all samples, nearly half (44 percent) of the identified microplastics were fibers, which is consistent with other studies suggesting that fibers are the most prevalent form of microplastics in the environment. About a third of the microplastics (30 percent) were plastic fragments.

Using survey data from a related study, the scientists estimate an American adult will consume, on average, 11,500 microplastics per year. Annual exposure could be as high as 3.8 million microplastics per year if calculated using the highest levels of microplastics found in each individual protein type and the average reported protein consumption rates.

TITLE: There’s Even Plastic in Clouds
https://nautil.us/theres-even-plastic-in-clouds-489634/

EXCERPT:  Scientists have found microplastics in beer, honey, salt and most of the proteins we consume—everything from seafood to sirloin steak and even plant-based meat alternatives. We keep looking for plastics, and we keep finding them in new and surprising places. Below, five recent discoveries that expand our knowledge of our plastic footprint.

Clouds: Researchers recently collected 28 samples of liquid from clouds at the top of Mount Tai in eastern China. They found microplastic fibers—from clothing, packaging, or tires—in their samples. Lower altitude clouds contained more particles. The older plastic particles, some of which attract elements like lead, oxygen, and mercury, could lead to more cloud development, according to a paper published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

Rocks: Have you heard of plastistones? That’s the name scientists have given to a new type of sedimentary rock formed when molten plastic from burning trash cools down and fuses with minerals from the environment. These plastitones have now been found in 11 countries on five continents. They can wreak havoc on microbial communities, especially in the ocean, where the rocks may be mistaken for algae. They could also reshape the geological record of our planet. 

Bottled water: Scientists recently found that on average, a liter of bottled water contains around 240,000 detectable plastic fragments—10 to 100 times greater than previous estimates. Their research, published in the journal PNAS, focused on the tiniest plastic particles—nanoplastics. These particles can cross into the brain, gut, heart, and through the placenta to babies in utero. 

Farm fertilizers: We’re making progress on the circular waste economy by using treated sewage sludge as fertilizer. But that sludge has now been found to be packed with microplastics. A study in the journal Environmental Pollution estimates that the “practice of spreading sludge on agricultural land could potentially make them one of the largest global reservoirs of microplastic pollution.” 

Glaciers: You might think of the glaciers of Antarctica as some of the last wild and pristine places on Earth. But scientists recently found plastics there for the first time in the remote Collins glacier on King George Island—probably brought in by gusty winds. Plastics in glaciers and sea ice could increase the rate at which they melt, because plastic absorbs more heat than ice does. “Our results also show that plastic pollution, even if only in small quantities, reaches remote areas with few human settlements,” they write.