(Report at the Parliamentary hearings in the State Duma of the Russian Federation on 04.06.2023)
Boris Kulagin, PhD
In 2016, the World Economic Forum published a frightening forecast: by 2040, there will be as much plastic debris in the ocean as aquatic organisms, that is, all living organisms that live in the aquatic environment.
The slides (Slides 2 and 3) show a view of the waters of the plastic islands and a modern picture of the transformation of a tropical paradise into garbage one, which is not unique to the Cocos Islands.
By 2025, the amount of garbage polluting the oceans and islands will increase in order.
Of particular danger is the pollution of the waters of the seas and the World Ocean with plastic waste formed in the form of fibers and granules of micro plastics, with a size of about 5 mm or less.
The map (Slide 4) shows the distribution of plastic waste in the oceans, which shows that the most polluted places are the Northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, as well as the Indian Ocean, where micro plastic particles from 1 to 5 mm in size accumulate.
“Micro plastics are a more dangerous threat compared to ordinary garbage.
It migrates much faster in the environment and from one organism to another. This leads to a strong fragmentation of the material: if garbage patches form more or less in one place, then the micro plastics are, as it were, smeared across the planet with a thin layer.
Micro plastics are divided into primary and secondary.
Primary micro plastics are fibers added to synthetic clothing.
When rubbing against a surface or washing, thousands of fibers are separated from it, “hanging” in the air or washed down the drain. The UK alone thus generates 5,900 tons of micro plastics per year, according to The Guardian.
The second most important source is the particles of artificial rubber from tires that each car leaves behind.20 grams per 100 kilometers. In addition, cars remove road markings, which also contain plastic.
The cosmetics industry is also responsible for the production of plastic "dust".
Scrubs and shampoos, lipstick, toothpaste - synthetic glitters, fragrances, and stabilizers are everywhere added, which are the basis of plastic garbage scattered along the shores of the World Ocean, a bleak picture of which is shown on Slide 5.
Man, as the top of the food chain, inevitably had to get his "dose" of micro plastics. The first experimental confirmation that we consume our own garbage was received recently. Scientists from the Medical University of Vienna (Austria) analyzed samples of waste products from eight volunteers from different countries and found the desired grains in all: an average of 20 pieces for every 10 grams of biomaterial.
There is not the slightest chance for any of us to avoid plastic in our diet every day. In September 2017, a study of tap water samples from 14 countries commissioned by the association of journalists appeared Orb media. The main conclusion is that wastewater treatment plants are not able to retain pieces of micro plastic: more than 80% of samples were positive (72% in Western Europe, 94% in the USA).
The slide (Slide 6) shows the main types of plastics and their symbols, as well as their applications, which proves that human life is practically located inside the plastic world, which has already penetrated into all spheres of its life.
As a result of this vital activity, 93% of all garbage enters the oceans with the flow of rivers.
Ten rivers: the Yangtze (discharging approximately 1.5 million metric tons of plastic waste into the Yellow Sea per year), the Yellow, Hai, Pearl, Amur, Mekong, Indus and Ganges in Asia, and the Niger and Nile dump the lion's share into the world's oceans all plastic and micro plastic waste. (Slide 7).
How dangerous is micro plastic?
Animal studies have shown that particles smaller than50 microns (a millionth of a meter) can pass through the intestinal wall into the blood and internal organs. At the same time, marine mammals that died from infectious diseases contained much more micro plastic particles than those that died from other causes, scientists from the Plymouth Laboratory noticed.
And the Austrian Society of Gastroenterology suggested that "eating" micro plastics is associated with increased cases of colon cancer in young people.
The slide (Slide 8) shows micro plastic particles that penetrate our crops. through cracks in the roots of lettuce and wheat crops, which can also absorb micro plastics from the surrounding soil and water and then end up in meat and dairy products.
The conclusions of the report of the Center for International Environmental Law “Plastic and Health: The Real Cost of Plastic Addiction” are disappointing: the authors identified 4,000 potentially hazardous chemical compounds, of which 1,000 were analyzed in detail, of which 148 were identified as very dangerous.
According to Russian ecologists: “Research in this area is just beginning, the current work is more aimed at drawing everyone's attention to the problem. Another question: is it worth sitting idly by, waiting until everything is proven?
There are hundreds of synthetic, composite materials, and it may take decades to trace the extent of the impact of each of them in the long term. And how much plastic will be thrown away during this time? Even without research, it is clear that the plastic problem is becoming challenge for the biodiversity of the planet.
It's impossible not to solve it."
What does "progressive Mankind" do in the fight against the impending threat of the plastic Catastrophe?
In fairness, it must be said that plastic waste also harms the economy: the European Union annually loses up to 695 million euros (European Parliament estimate), world - up to $8 billion (UN estimate; losses in fisheries, tourism and the cost of clean-up activities are included). As a result, an increasing number of countries restrict the circulation of polymer products: according to last year's UN report, more than 50 countries have introduced various bans.
For example, in August 2018, New Zealand authorities outlawed plastic bags in stores, based on a petition signed by 65,000 people in the country. In the US, bags are banned in Hawaii, drinking straws are banned in San Francisco and Seattle, and a comprehensive single-use plastic ban will soon go into effect across California.
In the UK, as part of a 25-year environmental program, the sale of polyethylene was subject to a special tax - a few pence from each package. And the late Queen Elizabeth II set an example for her subjects by banning disposable tableware from her residences.
Also, the fight against plastic was announced by the whole of Europe: Brussels adopted the “Plastic Strategy”, which from 2021 prohibits the circulation of disposable glasses and plates, all kinds of straws and sticks in the EU. For food packaging that has no substitutes, it is prescribed to reduce the volume of its use by a quarter by 2025.
EU authorities have gone even further: the European Chemicals Agency has come up with a bill against primary micro plastics, which should remove 90% of the sources of synthetic fibers from legal circulation. According to preliminary estimates, if the document is adopted (while experts are studying it), the cosmetic industry in Europe will have to change more than 24 thousand formulas, losing at least 12 billion euros in revenue.
Asian countries are trying to keep up with the West: Sri Lanka is determined to fight polystyrene foam, Vietnam has taxed packages, South Korea has completely banned their sale in supermarkets. A particularly ambitious target has been set by India, which has pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022.
The dominance of polyethylene was taken care of even in Africa: it was disqualified in Morocco, Eritrea, Cameroon, and South Africa.
As noted in the UN report, in some countries the bans look inconsistent or local authorities lack the resources to monitor their implementation. As a result, the illegal plastic market is flourishing.
The biggest problem, according to experts, is that pollution has no boundaries: the garbage thrown into the Moscow River will sooner or later end up in the oceans. In addition, micro plastic generating industries, in the event of a ban in some countries, will move to places where there are no such laws and continue to work. Therefore, local restrictions are not enough; an international regulatory framework is needed.
However, many countries have not yet shown attention to the problem, and Russia is one of them. In our country, there was only one case of “loss of rights” of single-use plastic: in July 2018, the authorities of the Leningrad Region banned its use at cultural events in the region. There is no regulation of plastic at the federal level, there are not even standards for the permissible concentration of micro plastics in water.
At the same time, there are legislative prerequisites for limiting disposable products: in the federal law No. 89-FL “On Production and Consumption Wastes” dated June 24, 1998, “maximum use of raw materials and materials” and “prevention of waste generation” are designated as state policy priorities in the waste issue. ".
“These phrases are enough to build a circular economy in the country. But these priorities are not being realized.
Not a single environmental agency - the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Rosstandart - undertakes the development of specific measures to popularize reusable packaging among the population and legal entities. No one encourages the phased withdrawal of non-recyclable containers and non-medical packaging from circulation. Instead, support is given to a less priority, according to the law, direction - waste incineration, around which an active lobbying activity has unfolded, leading to an aggravation of the garbage crisis.
According to experts, another "simple solution" is just as ineffective - replacing plastic bags with paper ones. “It is necessary to assess in a complex what kind of damage to nature is caused by the production of one or another type of packaging. It is estimated that the complete replacement of plastic bags with paper bags in Russia will increase the area of forest clearings by 15%. Is our forestry ready for this?”
According to experts, one should not be deceived by the project for the collection and recycling of plastic waste shown on the slide (Slide 9).
Dutch startup The Ocean Cleanup decided to clean up the Pacific Garbage Patch. A floating installation moved from San Francisco to the ocean - a 600-meter U-shaped pipe with an underwater "bucket" for trapping particles, which is a conventional boom with a catching network.
Ecologists were skeptical about the activity of the proposed passive oceanic “janitor”, reasonably noting that this technology will not collect micro plastics anyway, and it can even damage living organisms.
Not so long ago, information appeared in the press about the possibility electrolytic decomposition of micro plastics proposed by Canadian scientists (slide 10).
According to the authors of the technology: "Using electrodes, we generate hydroxyl radicals (*OH) that attack micro plastics. This process is environmentally friendly: it splits particles into CO₂ and water molecules that are not toxic to the ecosystem."
Under the action of an electric current, the electrolyte, mixed with micro plastics, reduces the content of micro plastics in water by more than half in an hour of electrolysis.
In our country, the highest concentrations of micro plastic particles were registered in the Baltic Sea, which is associated with a high concentration of human objects located on its shores and which are among the most advanced economically developed countries.
These countries cannot be reproached for the lack of modern treatment facilities, which, as it turns out, are not enough.
Slide (Slide 11) shows the distribution obtained from water sampling for micro plastics in the World Ocean Race 2019.
The concentrations of micro plastics indicated in particles/m3 showed that the coasts of Lithuania, Norway, France, the Gulf of Finland, as well as the Gibraltar region in the Mediterranean Sea have the highest values.
For a comprehensive and radical solution to the problem of plastic pollution, the authors of the report propose:
Application of MBSSC technology for the collection and cleaning of plastic and micro plastics from the waters of the seas and the entire World Ocean.
Dealing with the issues of promoting the concept of an Aircraft-carrying ballasted semi-submersible catamaran (ABSSC) and the idea of using the dual-purpose MBSSC concept, the authors of this report proposed a concept for the civilian use of this “product” in environmental tasks.
The idea of filtering micro plastic fibers was suggested by Nature herself.
The slide (slide 12) shows Baleen whale "squeezer" that separates small krill from the water using mechanical filtration with whalebone.
The use of this natural clue, combined with the technology of electrolytic decomposition of micro plastics into CO2 and water, opens up the possibility of significantly increasing the productivity and efficiency of cleaning the World Ocean using a special environmental ship on the MBSSC chassis.
The scheme of application of MBSSC for ecological purposes is shown on the slide (Slide 13).
When planning with a stern trim of about 4-5 degrees, mechanical filters focused on filtering plastic debris of various sizes and separating it, up to micro plastic fibers with a diameter of 10 micrometers and a length of 5-20 mm, waste is selected and moved to sorting bins for their subsequent concentration and disposal.
At the same time, the utilization of micro plastics can be complex and include both the mechanical method of concentration and more compact packaging, and the above-mentioned electrolytic method of decomposition of micro plastics of various origins into CO2 and water.
It should be noted that the MBSSC technology under consideration is a continuation and one of the modifications of the SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) semi-submerged catamaran, proposed by the outstanding Canadian engineer Frederick Creed.
One of his options for 3D modeling of MBSSC is shown on the slide (Slide 14).
The variant of the semi-submerged catamaran proposed by the authors, which has a different from the prototype (SWATH) functionality of ballasting in planning mode, allows the use of MBSSC as a carrier of heavy amphibious seaplanes of the A-40 and Be-200 types.
This possibility ensures long-term autonomous use of the MBSSC under almost any weather conditions in the far sea and ocean zone, far from stationary bases.
The slide (Slide 15) shows a 3D-model of the MBSSC (Multifunctional ballasted semi-submerged catamaran), which was used to study the strength characteristics of the bridge structure of the ship, which determines the necessary requirements for materials and the entire structure, ensuring a long stay of the MBSSC in the waters of the World ocean and its long-term use away from fixed bases.
One of the results of the MBSSC simulation is the determination of important parameters for given loads of the upper and lower decks, showing: the horizontal displacement of the subsurface pontoons will be 0.675 m on a shoulder of 100 meters, and the deflection of the arch of its bridge structure under a load of 20,000 tons, along the vertical axis, will not exceed 0.323 m (Slide 16).
The data obtained prove the possibility of a long autonomous life of the MBSSC without calling at ports, including ports of unfriendly countries...
The authors also considered the possibility of creating an MBSSC for use in ice fields, in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Variants of the MBSSC concepts of conventional and arctic design are shown on the slide (Slide 17).
Conclusion
1. The problem and danger of pollution of the World Ocean and ecosystems by plastic and, especially, micro plastic waste associated with human life is not fully recognized by the World community and its specialized organizations, as an impending global catastrophe, commensurate with a nuclear one, in scale and consequences.
2. It's time to inform the world community about the existence of the Russian proposal for the active elimination of plastic and micro plastic pollution of the waters of the seas and the World Ocean, which have an extremely negative impact on the future development of man and his survival as a species, using special ships of the far sea and ocean zone of the MBSSC type .
3. The use of the proposed methods of filtration and collection of plastic and micro plastic waste for stationary use in river mouths will make it possible to put an active barrier in the way of pollution sources of the World Ocean.
4. The solution of the global environmental problem of cleaning up the waters of the seas and the World Ocean from plastic and micro plastic waste can be more effectively carried out using the resources of the entire World community and attracting activity at the level of the executive and legislative authorities of the Russian Federation, including the creation of a permanent Working Group in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on designated topic.
5. It is proposed to apply with the above initiative to the Security Council of the Russian Federation to organize its interdepartmental consideration, bearing in mind the potentially significant positive international resonance of the proposed topic, which is also aimed at improving the image of the Russian Federation in the international arena.
Thank you for your attention!