From plastic waste to sustainable objects

First course on Lebanon. Starting on October 1 from the port of Marseille, the Plastic Odyssey ship team embarked on a three-year world tour dedicated to the fight and raise awareness against plastic pollution in the oceans. Their first stop is the port of Beirut in Lebanon, which is now considered to be one of the most sensitive areas in the Mediterranean basin in terms of microplastic concentrations.

An alarming study published in 2019 by researchers from CRNS and ULCO reported the involuntary ingestion of plastic by Lebanese people. According to them, “more than 30,000 plastic microparticles are consumed annually due in particular to their presence in seafood and in water.” The figures are edifying, the challenge is daunting and the health scandal is colossal.

And Lebanon is not the only country to be affected. In the same year, Newcastle University combined more than fifty international studies on the ingestion of microplastics. The results are an important step in understanding the impact of plastic pollution on humans. This study reveals that humans consume an average of 2,000 microplastic particles per week, or 5 grams, the equivalent of the weight of a credit card.

According to this same study, the biggest source of plastic ingestion would come from bottled and tap water. “Crustaceans, beer and salt have the highest levels of plastics among the products studied. Finally, the United States and India would be the countries where we would find twice as many traces of plastic as in European waters. But all countries are now affected by this subject,” comments Dr. Thava Palanisami, researcher co-responsible for the project at the University of Newcastle.

In addition to the health problem, there is a systemic approach to the issue of marine biodiversity. According to the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Cohesion of French Territories, it is now estimated that the quantity of plastic in the oceans is between 75 and 199 million tons (which represents 85% of marine litter), and that 24 400 billion particles of micro-plastics float on the surface of the oceans.

According to the RiVerse project study, by being ingested or interfering with marine animals, this waste leads to drowning, suffocating or perforating the digestive tract of marine animals. They are, in addition, the cause of sublethal effects and thus affecting its reproductive and survival capacities with possible repercussions on the preservation of species in the longer term. “We are going to identify entrepreneurs who want to implement simple and inexpensive innovations. To fight against plastic at sea, you have to act on land with the locals, always with the locals.”

For Simon Bernard, president and co-founder of Plastic Odyssey, documenting and developing solutions to reduce the use of plastic and adding value to waste inherited from previous decades is essential. “Today, it is urgent for us to change the paradigm and, like living things, to adapt in order to survive. Together, designers, engineers or researchers in the humanities, citizens, politicians or industrialists, we decided to radically change our strategy in order to build a post-plastic society, but for that, we need inventive people, entrepreneurs and all those who want to take a step towards the future.”