Director of the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Studies (IDAEA-CSIC)
More than 52 million tonnes of plastic waste are emitted around the world every year, according to a study published in Nature that inventories plastic pollution in 50,702 cities. It concludes that littering is the largest source of plastic emissions in the global North, and uncollected waste is the largest source in the South.
In 2022, 62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated worldwide, a figure 82% higher than the 34 million tonnes recorded in 2010, according to a United Nations report. The 2022 figure represents an average of 7.8 kilograms per capita per year worldwide, compared to 19.6 kg in Spain. Only 22.3% of this amount of global e-waste was documented as properly collected and recycled, says the Global E-waste Monitor 2024.
A spill of plastic pellets from containers from the merchant ship Toconao has reached several areas of the Galician coastline. For its part, the Government of Asturias has upgraded the Accidental Marine Pollution Plan to phase 2 due to the detection of microplastics on the coast.