Giving Compass' Take:

• Jason Flatt explains that The Plastic Atlas shows the impact of the global plastic crisis and the potential of various interventions to improve the crisis.

• Are you ready to tackle the issue of plastic pollution? 

• Read about how the SDGs can help the fight against plastic pollution. 

The Plastic Atlas, recently published by the Heinrich Böel Foundation and Break Free From Plastic, highlights the extent of plastic pollution worldwide.

The visual report covers 19 topics in plastic that impact daily lives across the world. These include global waste management, corporate responsibility, plastic’s gender bias, and tourism’s contribution to plastic waste.

The research, compiled with infographics that expand on the report’s written content, aims to offer a snapshot of plastic’s global pollution and how to curb the global trends. The Atlas proposes that “we need urgent and drastic reductions in plastic production and consumption and regulation at the local, national and global level that tackle plastic pollution at the source.”

The Atlas also explores the possibilities—and warnings—that are inherent in bio-based and bio-degradable plastics: the former defined in the publication as plastics made from plants while the latter are plastics designed to decompose naturally. Just because [bioplastic’s] name says ‘bio’ does not mean that they are any more environmentally friendly,” says the Plastic Atlas.

Read the full article about the global plastic crisis by Jason Flatt at Food Tank.