By Giulia Cristiana
According to Tearfund, we are losing one person to plastic pollution every 30 seconds. That is roughly one million people a year.
Since its inception in 1907, plastic has quickly become one of the most produced, consumed, and disposed-of materials. As recently as 2011, the polymer was revered by the American Plastics Council as the “miracle” material, cherished for holding “the promise of a better world”, and even facetiously touted as “the sixth food group” in a 2000 National Geographic Magazine advertisement in reference to the material’s popularity in the packaging of food
Plastic has found its way into every aspect of our lives since the start of its mass production in the 1950s, yet its impact on human health has been largely ignored. The Minderoo Foundation points out that between 1961 and 1980, only 47 studies on plastic safety were conducted. Today, out of over 10,500 chemicals in plastic, only around 4% have been investigated for human health impacts. It is only in the last decade that research into the polymer has accelerated, and the revelations so far have raised troubling questions about the material, which earthday.org President Kathleen Rogers refers to as “the biggest gamble in the story of human health”.
What is the problem of Plastics ?
To understand the nature of the plastic problem, we need to think three-fold: first, the plastic polymer; second, the plastic additives: and third the mismanagement of plastic waste.
The Plastic Polymer
We used to think that as plastic degraded, it would eventually disappear leaving no traces. Of course, we now know that is not true. Plastic never really goes away. The material simply degrades into smaller and smaller fragments until it is no longer visible to the human eye. These small fragments are called microplastics when their size ranges between 1 and 5 micrometers and nanoplastics when they are 100 nanometers or smaller. When ingested, breathed in, or absorbed through the skin, these micro and nano-sized plastic fragments don’t simply pass through us, plastic actually bioaccumulates in our bodies, and nanoplastics can even penetrate cell membranes. In a recent study by the University of New Mexico, researchers found up to 10 grams of plastic in the human brain and correlations have been made between plastic and neurodegenerative disorders such as Dementia. So far, we have found plastics in every organ and tissue researched, which only raises our concerns of the material’s impact on our health.
The Plastic Additives
During the plastic manufacturing process, compounds like bisphenol A (BPA) are added to alter the polymer’s color, strength, and durability. The over 10,500 chemicals involved in plastic production, also known as additives, represent an additional concern for human health. Many of these additives are confirmed endocrine disruptors, associated with diseases such as testicular cancer, obesity, and other reproductive disorders. Unborn and young children are particularly vulnerable to these chemicals because their endocrine systems are still developing.
The Mismanagement of Plastic Waste
In addition to concerns around microplastics and additives, the mismanagement of plastic waste contributes to mass environmental destruction and mortality. Plastic production emits a whopping 400 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses every year, around half of which is for single-use plastic packaging which as the name suggests is quickly discarded after only one use. Around two billion people lack access to well-regulated solid waste collection and one billion don’t have controlled waste disposal, meaning the plastic collected likely ends up in illegal and unsafe dump sites. As the plastic and waste degrades it is not only microplastics that are released, leachate, a toxic cocktail of disease and hazardous compounds is left behind, often contaminating ground water and nearby water bodies. Scattered plastic waste also contributes to the blockage of drains and waterways which leads to flooding and results in a host of waterborne diseases. Furthermore, studies have shown that weathered plastic can act as a vector for contaminants, toxins and heavy metals, and functions as a hub for viruses and antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Who bears the burden of Plastic Deaths ?
The pervasiveness of plastic implies, to varying extents, that the entire globe will continue to be increasingly affected by plastic pollution. That said, some countries bear a larger burden than others. By and large, the highest quantities of mismanaged plastic waste are currently found in lower-income or emerging developing nations in the Global South. These nations, whose frail infrastructure often already operates above capacity, will bear the burden of plastic pollution the most.
Mistakenly, you might resort to increased recycling as the solution to this challenge. The problem of plastic waste however is much more nuanced than this. So far, less than 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled. This unfortunately is not just due to lack of trying, as Greenpeace puts it “plastics are inherently incompatible with a circular economy”. Not only does recycled plastic require virgin plastic to be manufactured, but it contains more toxins and is weaker than virgin plastic, degrading much faster and releasing higher amounts of micro and nanoplastics. The only viable solution to the current plastic crisis is decreasing and eventually ceasing the production and consumption of the material, although as seen in the recent United Nations Plastic Treaty negotiations, it is proving quite the challenge.
For this reason, the Avoidable Deaths Network #PlasticDeathsAreAvoidable campaign lead by our own Giulia Cristiana seeks to empower individuals and youth to make more conscious decisions around their plastic consumption. We hope this brief overview on the current plastic crisis has shed some light on the phenomenon of microplastics and has encouraged you to reflect on the significance of reducing your own plastic footprint.
References and Additional Resources:
Tearfund (2019) No Time to Waste. Available at https://learn.tearfund.org/-/media/learn/resources/reports/2019-tearfund-consortium-no-time-to-waste-en.pdf.
Global Plastics Treaty (2023) Human Health. Available at: https://www.globalplastictreaty.com/human-health.
Earthday.org (2023) BABIES VS. PLASTICS. Available at: https://www.earthday.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/BVP-Report.pdf?_gl=1.
Zhang, J. et al. (2021) ‘Occurrence of polyethylene terephthalate and polycarbonate microplastics in infant and adult feces,’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 8(11), pp. 989–994. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00559.
Shan, S. et al. (2022) ‘Polystyrene nanoplastics penetrate across the blood-brain barrier and induce activation of microglia in the brain of mice,’ Chemosphere, 298, p. 134261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134261.
Nihart, A.J. et al. (2025) ‘Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains,’ Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03453-1.
Gaspar, L. et al. (2023) ‘Acute exposure to microplastics induced changes in behavior and inflammation in young and old mice,’ International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(15), p. 12308. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241512308.
OECD (2024) Policy Scenarios for Eliminating Plastic Pollution by 2040. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/policy-scenarios-for-eliminating-plastic-pollution-by-2040_76400890-en/full-report.html.
United Nations Environment Programme (2022) Beat Plastic Pollution. Available at: https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/.
Lee, Y. et al. (2023) ‘Health effects of microplastic exposures: Current issues and perspectives in South Korea,’ Yonsei Medical Journal, 64(5), pp. 301–308. https://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2023.0048.
Li, D. et al. (2020) ‘Microplastic release from the degradation of polypropylene feeding bottles during infant formula preparation,’ Nature Food, 1(11), pp. 746–754. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00171-y.
OECD (2022) Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1787/de747aef-en.
Kim, H.-Y. et al. (2023) ‘A preliminary study about the potential risks of the UV-weathered microplastic: The proteome-level changes in the brain in response to polystyrene derived weathered microplastics,’ Environmental Research, 233, p.116411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.116411.
Stapleton, M.J. et al. (2023) ‘Evaluating the generation of microplastics from an unlikely source: The unintentional consequence of the current plastic recycling process,’ Science of The Total Environment, 902, p.166090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166090.
Goodes, L.M. et al. (2023) ‘The plastic health map: A systematic evidence map of human health studies on plastic-associated chemicals,’ Environment International, 181, p. 108225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.108225.