.. Says 57m tonnes of plastic pollution is produced worldwide annually
George George Idowu
A study by the University of Leeds has revealed that Lagos, the commercial nerve and a densely populated part of Nigeria, has been identified as a city emitting the most plastic pollution around the world.
The megacity is followed on the list by other major cities such as New Delhi in India, Luanda in Angola, Karachi in Pakistan, and Al Qahirah in Egypt. The study also revealed that 15% of the world’s population lacks access to proper waste collection services, which is a major contributor to plastic pollution.
In the countries category, Nigeria ranked second overall for plastic pollution, and followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo in the top 10, highlighting the severity of the issue in Africa.
The study also found that more than two-thirds of this pollution originates from the Global South which subsequently affect every corner of the planet, from the depths of the oceans to the highest mountaintops and even inside human bodies.
This revelation came on Wednesday via a journal publication. Researchers used advanced AI modeling to analyse waste management across more than 50,000 municipalities worldwide, allowing them to estimate global waste generation and track what happens to the plastic that ends up in the open environment, excluding waste that is properly disposed of in landfills or incinerated.
According to the study, the top eight countries are responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution.
Lead researcher Dr. Costas Velis from Leeds’ School of Civil Engineering emphasized that the issue is not one of blame but of insufficient resources and infrastructure.
“We shouldn’t put the blame, any blame, on the Global South, and we shouldn’t praise ourselves about what we do in the Global North in any way,” Velis said.
He stressed that pointing the lack of government capacity to provide essential waste management services in many developing regions.
The study also underscores the need to treat waste collection as a basic necessity, akin to water and sanitation services.
This is coming after the projection of the United Nations that a dramatic rise in plastics production from 440 million tonnes annually to more than 1,200 million tonnes in the coming decades, researchers warn that the planet is “choking in plastic” and urgent action is needed to address the crisis.
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