TCoPS - 42

Endnotes
1 Parker, L. (2019) " The world's plastic
pollution crisis explained " , National
Geographic, 7 June, viewed 6 August
2021,https://www.nationalgeographic.com/
environment/article/plastic-pollution.
2 Geyer, R., Jambeck, J.R. and Law,
L.L., (2017) " Production, use, and fate of all
plastics ever made " , Science Advances, 3(7).
3 CIEL, 2019. Plastic and Health: The
Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet.
4 CIEL, 2019. Plastic and Climate: The
Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet.
5 UNEP, 2018. Single-use plastics: A
Roadmap for Sustainability.
6 The Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
7 WWF, 2020. Stop Ghost Gear: The most
deadly form of marine plastic debris.
8 Beaumont N.J. et al. (2019) " Global
ecological, social and economic impacts of
marine plastic " , Marine Pollution Bulletin,
142, pp 189-195.
9 Deloitte, 2019. Price Tag of Plastic
Pollution.
10 The authors calculate the lifetime cost
of plastic by using the perpetuity formula
with a discount rate of 2% as per Drupp, M.A.
et al. (2018) " Discounting Disentangled " ,
American Economic Journal: Economic
Policy, 10(4), pp 109-34. Consequently, 85%
of the lifetime value of plastic is borne in the
first 100 years and 95% of the lifetime value
is borne in the first 150 years. This gives
the authors confidence in their efforts to
provide a conservative estimate of plastic's
lifespan since key plastic waste types have
life expectancies beyond 150 years. The
formula used was the annual cost of plastic
produced in 2019 that entered the ocean (LB:
41,897,689,714 , UB:83,795,379,428) divided
by the discount rate of 2%.
11 This is based on the authors of this
report's estimate of the median minimum
lifetime cost of the plastic produced in 2019
being US$3.7 trillion - upper bound being
US$4.8 trillion and lower bound being
US$2.7 trillion.
12 This is based on the authors of this
report's estimate of the median minimum
lifetime cost of the plastic produced in
2019 being US$3.7 trillion - upper bound
being US$4.8 trillion and lower bound
being US$2.7 trillion - and countries' GDP
data from Investopedia Silver, Caleb.,
2020. The Top 25 Economies in the World.
Investopedia. Available at: 
[Accessed 18 August 2021].
13 Virgin plastic is the direct output
produced from refining a petrochemical
feedstock, such as natural gas or crude oil,
which has never been used or processed
before.
14 See Annex 3: Methodology for an
overview of how this figure was calculated.
All values provided in 2019 US$.
15 See Annex 3: Methodology for an
overview of how this figure was calculated.
All values provided in 2019 US$.
16 See Annex 3: Methodology for an
overview of how this figure was calculated.
All values provided in 2019 US$.
17 See Annex 3: Methodology for an
overview of how this figure was calculated.
All values provided in 2019 US$.
18 See Annex 3: Methodology for an
overview of how this figure was calculated.
All values provided in 2019 US$.
19 This is based on i) the authors of this
report's estimate of the median projected
cost of the plastic produced in 2040 being
US$7.1 trillion - upper bound being US$9.3
trillion and lower bound being US$4.9
trillion; ii) global spending on health in
2018 being US$8.3 trillion as per the World
Health Organization, 2020. Global spending
on health: Weathering the storm.; and
iii) GDPs of Germany (US$3.86 trillion),
Canada (US$1.74 trillion), and Australia
(US$1.4 trillion), sum up to US$7 trillion as
per data from Investopedia Silver, Caleb.,
2020. The Top 25 Economies in the World.
Investopedia. Available at: 
[Accessed 18 August 2021].
20 The Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
21 This is based on limiting warming to
under 1.5 C; the Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
22 Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2021.
Policies for a Circular Economy for Plastic:
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's
perspective on a UN treaty to address plastic
pollution.
23 World Economic Forum, 2016. The New
Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of
plastics.
24 The Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
25 The Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
26 WWF, 2020. The Business Case for a
UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution.
27 UN Environment, 2017. Combating
Marine Plastic Litter and Microplastics: An
Assessment of the Effectiveness of Relevant
International, Regional and Subregional
Governance Strategies and Approaches.
28 WWF, 2020. The Business Case for a
UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution.
29 WWF (n.d.), Ghost Gear- The silent
predator, viewed 6 August 2021, .
30 WWF (n.d.). Global Plastic
Navigator [Online]. Available at: https://
plasticnavigator.wwf.de/#/en/stories/?st
=0&ch=0&layers=surface-concentration
(Accessed: 12 August 2021).
31 Risko et al. (2020) " Cost-effectiveness
and return on investment of protecting health
workers in low- and middle-income countries
during the COVID-19 pandemic " , PLoS ONE,
15(10), pp 1-10.
32 Geyer, R., Jambeck, J.R. and Law,
L.L., (2017) " Production, use, and fate of all
plastics ever made " , Science Advances, 3(7).
33 WWF, 2020. The Business Case for a
UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution.
34 Geyer, R., Jambeck, J.R. and Law,
L.L., (2017) " Production, use, and fate of all
plastics ever made " , Science Advances, 3(7).
35 UNEP, 2018. Single-use plastics: A
Roadmap for Sustainability.
36 The Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
37 Calculations based on a 21.59 cm
long straw, with an assumption that the
circumference of the world is 40,075 km.
38 This proportion refers only do municipal
WWF INTERNATIONAL 2021
solid and microplastic waste as per the Pew
Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ, 2019.
Breaking the Plastic Wave.
39 The Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
40 The Pew Charitable Trusts and
SYSTEMIQ, 2019. Breaking the Plastic
Wave.
41 CIEL, 2019. Plastic and Health: The
Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet.
42 Deloitte, 2019. Price Tag of Plastic
Pollution.
43 Babbage, N. (2019) " New publication
out: Consumer response to plastic waste "
Kantar, 9 October. Results based on global
survey of over 65k people in 24 countries.
44 Ryan, P.G. (2015) " A Brief History of
Marine Litter Research " . In: Bergmann,
M., Gutow, L. and Klages, M. (eds), Marine
Anthropogenic Litter. Springer, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16510-3.
45 WWF, 2020. The Business Case for a
UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution.
46 Lebanc, R., (2021) " The Decomposition
of Waste in Landfills " , The Balance Small
Business, January 16, Accessed 20 August
2021, .
47
Nauendorf, A. et al., (2016) " Microbial
colonization and degradation of polyethylene
and biodegradable plastic bags in temperate
fine-grained organic-rich marine sediments " ,
Marine Pollution Bulletin, 103, pp 168-178.
48 See Annex 3: Methodology for an
overview of how these costs were estimated.
All values provided in 2019 US$.
49 This is based on the authors of this
report's estimate of the median minimum
lifetime cost of the plastic produced in
2019 being US$3.7 trillion - upper bound
being US$4.8 trillion and lower bound
being US$2.7 trillion - and countries' GDP
data from Investopedia Silver, Caleb.,
2020. The Top 25 Economies in the World.
Investopedia. Available at: 
[Accessed 18 August 2021].
50 This is based on the authors of this
report's estimate of the median minimum
lifetime cost of the plastic produced in 2019
being US$3.7 trillion - upper bound being U
$4.8 trillion and lower bound being US$2.7
trillion - and countries' GDP data from
Investopedia Silver, Caleb., 2020. The Top
25 Economies in the World. Investopedia.
Available at: 
[Accessed 18 August 2021].
51 See Annex 3: Methodology for an
overview of how these costs were estimated.
All values provided in 2019 US$.
52 Nielsen, T. et al. " Politics and the plastic
crisis: A review throughout the plastic life
cycle " , Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews:
Energy and Environment, 9(1).
53 This is given that the cost of GHG
emissions in 2019 is estimated as US$171
billion as per this report's model (see
Annex 3: Methodology for more detail
on how this figure was estimated) and
global spending on the energy transition
globally in 2020 is US$501.3 billion as per
Bloomberg; BloombergNEF, 2021. " Energy
Transition Investment Trends Tracking
global investment in the low-carbon energy
transition. " [PowerPoint presentation] 19
January. The authors of this report converted
this value into 2019 dollars to give ~US$469
billion.
https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ https://www.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16510-3.45 https://www.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16510-3.45 https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-long-does-it-take-garbage-to-decompose-2878033 https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-long-does-it-take-garbage-to-decompose-2878033 https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-long-does-it-take-garbage-to-decompose-2878033 https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-tope-conomies http://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-tope-conomies https://wwf.panda.org/act/take_action/plastics_campaign_page/ https://wwf.panda.org/act/take_action/plastics_campaign_page/ https://wwf.panda.org/act/take_action/plastics_campaign_page/ https://plasticnavigator.wwf.de/#/en/stories/?st=0&ch=0&layers=surface-concentration https://plasticnavigator.wwf.de/#/en/stories/?st=0&ch=0&layers=surface-concentration https://plasticnavigator.wwf.de/#/en/stories/?st=0&ch=0&layers=surface-concentration https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/ https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/

TCoPS

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of TCoPS

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