17 Shocking Facts About Plastic

Need a couple more motivations to break free from plastic? Here are 17 new reasons to do so.

✋Warning: these facts are here to complement your argumentation with Aunt Lucy who still doesn’t believe we’re in the middle of a plastic crisis — clearly not to cheer you up.

• Only 9% of the plastic ever created has been recycled.^[1]Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made — Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck and Kara Lavender Law, 2017
• By 2050, the ocean is expected to contain more plastics than fish.
  In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain 1 tonne of plastic for every 3 tonnes of fish by 2025,
  and by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight). ^[2]The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics. — World Economic Forum, January 2016
• Although the first synthetic plastics such as Bakelite appeared in the early 20th century, widespread use of plastics outside of the military did not occur until after World War II;
• It is estimated that a minimum of 5.25 trillion particles of plastic (weighing 268,940 tons) are currently in the Ocean.^[3]Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea — Marcus Eriksen, Laurent C. M. Lebreton, Henry S. Carson, Martin Thiel, … Continue reading
• 75% of all plastic ever produced is already waste.^[4]WWF Report 2019 (Solving plastic pollution through accountability) — Dalberg, 2019
• We produce 200 times more plastic now than we did in 1950.^[5]WWF Report 2019 (Solving plastic pollution through accountability) — Dalberg, 2019
• In 2015, we produced 381 million tonnes of plastic. ^[6]WWF Report 2019 (Solving plastic pollution through accountability) — Dalberg, 2019
  For context, this is roughly equivalent to the mass of two-thirds of the world population.^[7]This is assuming a mass of 75 kg per person [(381,000,000*1,000kg)/75kg per person=5,080,000,000 people.
• It is estimated that a minimum of a 1000 marine turtles die every year due to entanglement in
  plastic waste, which includes lost or discarded fishing gear.^[8]A Global Review of Marine Turtle Entanglement in Anthropogenic Debris: A Baseline for Further Action — EM Duncan, 2017
• More than 240 different animal species ingest plastic. ^[9]Marine Debris: Understanding, Preventing
  and Mitigating the Significant Adverse Impacts on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity. —  Secretariat of the
  Convention on Biological Diversity, 2016” These animals are often unable to pass the plastic through their digestive systems, resulting in internal abrasions, digestive blockages, and death.
• A recent study of bottled water found microplastic contamination in 93% of water bottles, sourced from 11 different brands across nine countries.^[10]Synthetic Polymer Contamination in Bottled Water, Sherri A. Mason, Victoria G. Welch, and Joseph Neratko, 2018
• 40% of plastic is single-use. ^[11]WWF Report 2019 (Solving plastic pollution through accountability) — Dalberg, 2019
• In 2017, China made the decision to enforce a significantly higher purity standard on plastic waste imports to improve performance of the country’s waste management system. South East Asian countries picked up a larger share of the remaining plastic waste exports. Recycling workers in Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, make recycling of plastics in primitive working conditions and are paid $2 per day. Even child labourers work under these conditions and risk their lives. ^[12]WWF Report 2019 (Solving plastic pollution through accountability) — Dalberg, 2019
• Coca Cola produces 88 billions plastic bottles per year.^[13]Allein Coca Cola produziert 3. Mio. Tonnen Plastikmüll — Mathias Brandt, 2019. If we put all those bottles on top of each other, it would cover the distance between the earth and the moon 62 times. That is 167 000 plastic bottles produced per minute.
• We estimate that 8.3 billions of plastic has been produced to date.^[14]Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made — Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck and Kara Lavender Law, 2017
• 42% of plastic is created for packaging.^[15]Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made — Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck and Kara Lavender Law, 2017 (that’s 146 million tonnes^[16]Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made — Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck and Kara Lavender Law, 2017 per year)
• By 2050, 99% of seabirds will ingest plastic.^[17]Plastic in 99 percent of seabirds by 2050 — CSIRO Australia, 2015

👉🏽Just starting out your low waste journey? Here are 5 Tips for Zero Waste Newbies. Need help getting rid of waste in your bathroom? Here are 8 Zero Waste(ish) Beauty Brands, and 14 Zero Waste(ish) Make Up brands.

Want to learn more?

• The Story of Stuff Project  – Webinar: Who Pays the price for plastic Production?
• The Story of Stuff Project – How Plastic Pollutes Small Towns;
• Kurzgesagt – Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic;
• Turning the tide on plastic  — Lucy Siegle; // if you can’t borrow it, get it second-hand!
• National Geographic – Planet or Plastic?.

Cover image: Daniel Chekalov — thank you.

Morgane

Morgane is a London-based writer passionate about sustainable living, ethical fashion and social justice.