The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has presented its Nuclear technology for Controlling Plastic Pollution (NUTEC Plastics) initiative to curb global plastic pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.
IAEA made this exhibition during a side event of the Science, Technology and Innovation Forum organized at the United Nation’s 7th annual Multi-stakeholder Forum.
The approach of NUTEC Plastics is to provide science-based evidence to characterize and assess marine microplastic pollution and to demonstrate the use of ionizing radiation to increase the volume recycled of plastic and transform more plastic waste into reusable resources.
Actions against plastic pollution at whatever level will only work if the full range of technologies and technological solutions are being applied, said Martin Krause, Director of Programme Support and Coordination at the IAEA Department of Technical Cooperation.
“This includes nuclear technologies that are meant to complement traditional approaches.”
NUTEC Plastics uses nuclear methods to precisely track and quantify the movement and impacts of microplastics and co-contaminants.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the world is producing twice as much plastic waste as two decades ago.
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“Majority of which is disposed of in landfills, incinerated, or leaks into the environment,” the OECD noted. “Only nine percent of these plastics are successfully recycled.”
Plastic pollution is one of today’s most pressing global environmental challenges and a direct threat to sustainable development.
By 2025, the IAEA projects, the ocean will contain one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish, and by 2050, there may be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
“Landfills are often brimming with plastic waste and pose an environmental threat to downstream ecosystems such as rivers, groundwater, and the ocean.
“Furthermore, incineration of plastic refuse may also release toxic gases,” the agency said.
Hideshige Takada, Professor of Environmental Chemistry of Organic Micropollutants at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, explained that nuclear technology was used to determine that marine plastic pollution began to appear in the Asian region in the 1960s and 1970s.
“This means that we can categorically link marine plastics pollution to the onset of our mass plastic consumption,” Takada said.
The professor stated that based on measurement of smaller microplastics – 300 microns – the levels of microplastic pollution in the water and sediments are close to or even exceeding the threshold concentration that causes adverse effects to marine organisms.
