Approached by Eco-Business over this claim, DeArmitt pointed to the paper, Replacing Plastics with Alternatives Is Worse for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Most Cases, published last year. Des Vallières said this claim was based on a plastic lobby group-backed study that showed an initial surge in reusable bag sales. He argues that most plastic waste on beaches is from people dropping it there, not washing in from the ocean. The notion that the amount of plastic waste entering the environment is an emergency is “not really the case,” he told his audience in Hong Kong. He claims to be one of the world’s leading experts on plastics and environmental science with an ambition to “correct widespread myths” on plastics and their impact through his consultancy Phantom Plastics and non-profit Plastics Research Council.