The Plastic Legacy: A Lingering Global Problem

Plastic is everywhere, from the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we go to bed at night. It's hard to imagine a time when we didn't encounter plastic every day, but there are people alive today who were born into an almost plastic-free world. Since the 1950s, there has been a rapid and extreme increase in plastic production, and as a result, plastic waste is now accumulating in landfills and oceans. In fact, of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic ever produced, only 9% has been recycled, and the vast majority (79%) is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter. So, how much of the plastic ever produced is still around?

Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form

Since the 1950s, there has been a rapid and extreme increase in plastic production. Jenna Jambeck, a University of Georgia environmental engineer who studies plastic waste in the oceans, says that this kind of increase would "break any system that was not prepared for it".

A study published in the peer-reviewed journal *Science Advances* found that of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Only nine per cent has been recycled, and 79 per cent is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter.

If present trends continue, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills. This is 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.

Greenpeace International says that every single piece of plastic ever made still exists. Plastic is so ubiquitous that birds are using it to build their nests. There is an area bigger than France of throw-away plastic swirling at all depths in the North Pacific Ocean.

Only 12% of plastic has been incinerated

Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form. Only 12% of plastic has been incinerated.

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Of that, only 9% has been recycled. The vast majority—79%—is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter. If present trends continue, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills. That amount is 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.

Everyday, more and more plastic keeps being produced, used and thrown away. In countries where disposable cups are made of plastic, for example, it may take only seconds for one to leave the package, be used, and end up in the trash. So much plastic is being consumed that there is an area bigger than France of throw-away plastic swirling at all depths in the North Pacific Ocean. It has become so ubiquitous that birds are using it to build their nests.

In the second half of the 19th century, companies in the billiard ball industry realised they needed a substitute for ivory. By then, humans were consuming at least one million pounds of the material each year, and newspapers were reporting that elephants would soon become extinct if that pace continued.

79% of plastic is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Of that, only nine percent has been recycled. The vast majority—79 percent—is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter. This means that at some point, much of it ends up in the oceans.

Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form. Only 12 percent has been incinerated. If present trends continue, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills. That amount is 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.

In countries where disposable cups are made of plastic, for example, it may take only seconds for one to leave the package, be used, and end up in a trash can. So much plastic is being consumed that there is an area bigger than France of throw-away plastic swirling at all depths in the North Pacific Ocean. It has become so ubiquitous that birds are using it to build their nests. Gannets (northern gannet Morus bassanus) on the “Lummenfelsen” on Heligoland use plastic waste and parts of fishery nets (Dolly ropes) to build their nests on the rock.

If present trends continue, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills

Plastic is everywhere. From the moment we wake up in the morning and brush our teeth, to when we watch TV at the end of the day, plastic is all around us. It is hard to imagine leaving the supermarket without at least one item that isn’t in a plastic container.

So much plastic is being consumed that there is an area bigger than France of throw-away plastic swirling at all depths in the North Pacific Ocean. It has become so ubiquitous that birds are using it to build their nests.

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Of that, only nine percent has been recycled. The vast majority—79 percent—is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter.

Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form. Only 12 percent has been incinerated.

There is an area bigger than France of throw-away plastic swirling at all depths in the North Pacific Ocean

Plastic is everywhere. From the moment we wake up in the morning and brush our teeth, to when we watch TV at the end of the day, plastic is all around us. It is hard to imagine leaving the supermarket without at least one item that isn’t in a plastic container.

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Only nine percent has been recycled. The vast majority—79 percent—is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter. If present trends continue, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills.

Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form. Only 12 percent has been incinerated. Every single piece of plastic ever made still exists.

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