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Clear and sunny skies". The Parisian temperatures of recent days finally return to seasonal averages. However, a new weather indicator threatens to alter the good mood of city dwellers: that of plastic pollution measured in the capital. The plastic showers expected this Friday in Paris are expected to reach up to 40kg, according to the "plastic weather" developed by the Australian foundation Minderoo. The initiative - a first in France - was inaugurated Thursday by the Ministry of Ecology Christophe Béchu and journalist Chloé Nabédian, a former weather presenter. Weekly plastic pollution forecasts are available and accessible to everyone via the Plasticforecast.com website.
If Minderoo does not measure in real time the plastic floating in the atmosphere, the bulletin published by the foundation nevertheless enjoys a solid scientific credit. Minderoo is based on research and surveys conducted in Paris since 2015. This work has shown that the amount of plastic collected increases significantly when it rains, because moisture captures and aggregates particles together. Australian scientists extrapolate, depending on the weather, a level of "plastic rain" that oscillates between 40 and 420 kilos per day in Paris.
Risks to human health
The foundation hopes that this operation will raise awareness among citizens and leaders, as negotiations for a future international treaty on plastic pollution will be held on Monday in Paris. As we suspected, these torrents of plastics are not without risk to our health and that of animals. "Plastic pollution is a huge problem that has not been solved to date," said Stephen Gaisford, communications officer at Minderoo. The particles degrade in the environment and then end up in our bodies, or in those of animals, causing serious damage."
The deleterious impact of plastics on the ecosystem and on health is corroborated by numerous scientific publications. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), plastic debris kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year. Microplastics, resulting from the decomposition of waste, but also emitted by all materials incorporating plastic (paints, textiles, tires), are the most formidable.
According to a study published at the end of March in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, pieces of microplastics would be found in our body, whether in the blood, in breast milk and inside the placenta. These foreign bodies are then likely to cause cellular degradation and even promote cancers, reproductive problems and DNA mutations.
Despite these serious risks, public opinion is still too little aware of the danger of plastic, says Stephan Gaisford. "People don't feel very concerned, because if plastic is everywhere, it is often in invisible form, such as in water or the atmosphere," he said. Plastic pollution is also "absent from conventional weather reports", says Chloé Nabédian, when the levels of fine particles or ozone have been included for a long time.
So, to capture the attention of Parisians, Minderoo has released the big means: conference at the Climate Academy, campaign on social networks, advertising displays in the metros ... "We want the plastic pollution indicator to become as relevant as the conventional metro. Let people wonder, when they go out, how much plastic it rains, as we wonder if there is sunshine, "says the representative of Minderoo.
It remains to convince international diplomats. Last year, under the auspices of the United Nations, 175 nations passed a landmark resolution to conclude a legally binding treaty against plastic pollution. Will the second round of negotiations, scheduled for 29 May to 2 June, lead to a consensus? On the Plasticforecast website, an option entitled "changing forecasts" opens in any case the possibility of signing an open letter addressed to the negotiators. According to the OECD, without measurement, annual plastic production could triple by 2060. It would then reach 1.2 billion tonnes.