Mapping waste from space: Minderoo Foundation tracks plastic dumping with satellite and AI tech

10 May 2022 --- Global governments, industry and community organizers can now view plastic waste sites through an interactive map developed using satellite imagery and machine learning. The Global Plastics Watch map has already identified over 2,800 dumps in 25 countries and provides information on land attributes like water presence, drainage, earth density, soil content and human population.

The map is under development and can detect waste sites as small as 5 square meters and measure changes in surface areas. It was created by the Australian philanthropic society and the Minderoo Foundation in collaboration with digital environmental product company Earthrise Media. 

Andrew Forrest, chairman and co-founder of the Minderoo Foundation, says, “the world has no idea how dangerous plastic waste is to the organic environment, particularly humans. Preventing illegal and legal plastic waste stockpiles from entering the oceanic environment is critical to limit this harm.”

Dr. Sedat Gündoğdu, chief scientist of Microplastics Research Group (MRG) in Turkey, tells PackagingInsights the map is “very important and impressive work,” but that the 73 Turkish sites identified so far are unfamiliar to him. “There are many illegal and open dumping sites not represented on the map yet,” he notes. 

Map of Turkish waste dumps seen from space.This year, MRG produced its own map, showing more than 250 fires at facilities purporting to be recycling centers. It is suspected criminal groups use illegal migrant labor and burn trash to destroy plastic waste cheaply.

Key findings 
So far, Minderoo’s map has covered the top 20 most polluting nations on earth, according to Science Advances – including all of Southeast Asia, Australia and China. The Global Plastics Watch is encouraging the submission of any new information to expand the map’s findings. 

Of the 2,802 sites examined, 618 (22.1%) were within 250 meters of a waterway. A further 228 sites (8.1%) were within 100 meters of a waterway. Moreover, an average of 6,616 people live within 1 kilometer of each site and 155,010 within 5 kilometers. 

The Minderoo Foundation says the current findings have already exceeded its expectations, with many undocumented sites discovered and the number far higher than hypothesized. 

Indonesian National Plastic Action Partnership chair, Sri Indrastuti Hadiputranto, says the map is “a timely innovation for policymakers, practitioners and advocates that believe in the importance of evidence-based policymaking to advance our goal of reducing 70% of ocean leakage by 2025.” 

“I believe more data-oriented innovations like Global Plastic Watch will lead us to a more sustainable policy outcome and improve collaborations in data collections in Indonesia.”Indonesian waste sites.

Search from space
Satellite imagery is already used to map deforestation and detect illegal logging sites around the world. However, this is the first time such technology has been employed against plastic pollution. 

The project follows last year’s Plastic Waste Makers Index, which traced polymer production for single-use plastics by companies, investors and locations. Globally, a 30% increase in the production of single-use plastic is projected over the next five years. The Minderoo Foundation’s No Plastic Waste initiative believes this growth in production will lead to an extra three trillion items of throwaway plastic waste by 2025.

The American Chemistry Council recently identified 351 chemical industry investment projects cumulatively valued at US$208 billion for new facilities, expansions, and factory restarts – something often dubbed “Big Oil’s Plan B” – a tactic to maintain profits through plastic production as governments turn away from fossil fuel energy resources. 

By Louis Gore-Langton