Each year the world produces about 400 million tons of plastic waste, most of which is thrown away after just a few minutes of use.
Negotiators hope to reach the first global agreement on plastic pollution this year, but in five very different countries, AFP found that single-use plastic remains the most popular as the cheapest and easiest option, indicating the challenges ahead:
Bangkok
On a Bangkok street lined with food vendors, customers line up for Maliwan’s famous traditional sweets.
The layered cakes — green with pandan leaf or blue with butterfly pea — sit in clear plastic bags next to rows of taro pudding in plastic boxes.
Each day, the 40-year-old business uses at least two kilograms of single-use plastic.
“Plastic is simple, easy and cheap,” said 44-year-old owner of Watchararas Tamrongpattarakit.
Banana leaves used to be common, but they are becoming more and more expensive and hard to find.
They are also difficult to use because each one must be cleaned and tested for tears.
“It doesn’t work with our sales speed”, says Watcharas.
Thailand began restricting single-use plastic use before the pandemic, asking major retailers to stop giving out bags for free.
But the policy has fallen so far, there is little availability among the country’s food vendors.
Thailand produces two million tons of plastic waste a year, according to the country’s Ministry of Environmental Pollution Control.
The World Bank estimates that 11 percent is not collected, and is incinerated, dumped on land or seeps into rivers and seas.
Watchararas tries to consolidate purchases into fewer bags and said some customers bring their own reusable containers and totes.
But Radeerut Sakulpongpaisal, a Maliwan customer for 30 years, said he finds plastic “easy”.
“I also understand the impact on the environment,” said the bank employee.
But “it’s probably easier for both the store and the customers”.
Lagos
At the Obalende market in the heart of Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos, empty water bags litter the floor.
Every day, Lisebeth Ajayi watches dozens of customers use their teeth to tear open bags of “pure water” and drink.
“They don’t have money to buy this bottled water, that’s why they make clean water,” said the 58-year-old man who sells bottles and bags of water, soap and sponges.
Two 500-milliliter bags are sold for between 50 to 250 naira (3-15 US cents), compared to 250-300 naira for a 750-ml bottle.
Since they appeared in the 1990s, water bags have become a major waste throughout Africa, but they are still popular for drinking, cooking and even washing.
About 200 firms produce sacks in Lagos, along with several hundred others that recycle plastics, but they provide high volume in a country with few public waste bins and little environmental education.
Lagos banned single-use plastic in January, but it has had little impact so far.
The United Nations estimates that up to 60 million water bags are discarded across Nigeria every day.
Rio
Every day, vendors walk the sands of some of Rio de Janeiro’s most beautiful beaches, metal bowls full of drinks like tea.
This cold drink, infused with fruit juice, is served in plastic cups to eager sun worshipers on the beach.
“Drinking with a partner is part of the culture of Rio de Janeiro,” explained Arthur Jorge da Silva, 47, as he looked at customers.
He acknowledged the environmental impact of his towers of plastic cups, in a country ranked fourth in terms of plastic waste in 2019.
But it is “complicated” to find cheaper alternatives, he told AFP.
A tanned seller said that wedding vendors on the beach have been using plastic for a long time.
You pay a dollar for a 20-cup tower and charge customers $1.80 per drink.
The bins on Rio’s coast receive about 130 tons of waste a day, but the plastic is not sorted, and only 3 percent of Brazil’s waste is recycled every year.
Evelyn Talavera, 24, said she does her best to clean up when she comes out of the sea.
“We have to take care of our planet, throw away the trash, keep the environment clean.”
Plastic containers have been banned from restaurants and bars in Rio since 2018, and shops are no longer required to provide free plastic bags — although many still do.
Congress is also considering legislation that would ban all single-use plastics.
Paris
In France, the single use of plastic has been banned since 2016, but while things like straws and plastic cutlery have disappeared, plastic bags remain stubborn.
At Paris’ Aligre market, the stalls are filled with fruit, vegetables and bags ready for delivery.
Many are stamped “reusable and 100 percent recyclable”, and others are described as compostable or produced from natural materials.
But experts have questioned the ecological value of some of these claims.
Retailer Laurent Benacer receives a 24-euro ($26) box of 2,000 bags each week.
“In Paris, everyone asks for a bag,” he told AFP.
“I stopped, but my neighbors continued, so I had to start over.”
There are alternatives such as paper bags, but some customers are not convinced.
“Plastic bags always work, so everything doesn’t spill everywhere,” insists 80-year-old customer Catherine Sale.
Dubai
At the Allo Beirut restaurant in Dubai, plastic containers are piled up, waiting to be filled and delivered across the city.
“We receive more than 1,200 orders a day,” said delivery manager Mohammed Chanane.
“We use plastic boxes because they absorb air and store food,” he said.
With fewer pedestrians and a consistently hot climate, most of Dubai’s 3.7 million residents rely on delivery for everything from gasoline to coffee.
Citizens of the United Arab Emirates have the largest amount of waste per capita in the world.
And single-use plastics make up 40 percent of all plastics used in the country.
Since June, single-use plastic bags and similar items have been banned. Polystyrene containers will follow next year.
Allo Beirut is considering using cardboard containers, which traveling customer Youmna Asmar would welcome.
He admitted he was horrified by the plastic build-up in his bins after a weekend of family orders.
“I say to me, if we all do this, it’s a lot.”
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