Waste Audits: A First Step Toward Stopping Plastic Pollution
In Vietnam, rapidly urbanizing coastal cities account for the bulk of the country’s trash flow into the ocean.
We are currently testing solutions in coastal communities and will scale up what is working best to other communities in the next few years.
For example, in Ha Long City in North Vietnam, we are conducting waste audits with local groups to:
- identify corporate polluters and hold them accountable
- encourage residents and business owners to commit to reduce their waste by 25% in 2019; and
- advocate for zero waste solutions for cities.
June 2018 Waste Audit
Residential Trash
September 2018 Waste Audit
Hotels, Restaurants, and Boat Tour Operators
The Other Climate Connection: Fossil Fuels
The story of plastic is partly a story of the fossil fuel industry.
The raw materials for plastic come from fossil fuels, and many of the Big Oil and Gas companies also produce plastic, often in the same facilities.
ExxonMobil, for example, ranks as the world’s third-biggest plastic producer; 7 of the 10 largest plastic producers are oil and natural gas companies.
As long as these companies extract fossil fuels, there is a huge incentive to make plastic. If we don’t act, by 2050, 20% of all oil extracted across the world might go toward making plastic.
Overall, plastic production is projected to triple by 2050. About one-third of all plastic is currently escaping into the environment: roadsides, streams, lakes, and the ocean.
If this trend holds, then by 2050 the oceans will be receiving the equivalent of one truckload of plastic every 15 seconds, night and day.
