Fact sheet: single use plastics

While plastic has many valuable uses, we have sầu become addicted lớn single-use or disposable plastic — with severe environmental consequences.Around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed to lớn be used only once — & then thrown away.Plastic waste is now so ubiquitous in the natural environment that scientists have even suggested it could serve sầu as a geological indicator of the Anthropocene era.So how did we get here?

From the 1950s to lớn the 70s, only a small amount of plastic was produced, so plastic waste was relatively manageable.

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By the 1990s, plastic waste generation had more than tripled in two decades, following a similar rise in plastic production.

In the early 2000s, our output of plastic waste rose more in a single decade than it had in the previous 40 years.

Today, we produce about 300 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. That’s nearly equivalent to lớn the weight of the entire human population.

Researchers estimate that more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s. About 60% of that plastic has ended up in either a landfill or the natural environment.

We’re seeing some other worrying trends. Since the 1950s, the rate of plastic production has grown faster than that of any other material. We’ve sầu also seen a shift away from the production of durable plastic, và towards plastics that are meant khổng lồ be thrown away after a single use.More than 99% of plastics are produced from chemicals derived from oil, natural gas và coal — all of which are dirty, non-renewable resources. If current trends continue, by 2050 the plastic industry could tài khoản for 20% of the world’s total oil consumption.

These single-use plastic products are everywhere. For many of us, they’ve sầu become integral lớn our daily lives.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)Water bottles, dispensing containers, biscuit trays

High—density polyethylene (HDPE)Shampoo bottles, milk bottles, freezer bags, ice cream containers

Low—mật độ trùng lặp từ khóa polyethylene (LDPE)Bags, trays, containers, food packaging film

Polypropylene (PP)Potalớn chip bags, microwave sầu dishes, ice cream tubs, bottle caps, single-use face masks

We need to slow the flow of plastic at its source, but we also need lớn improve sầu the way we manage our plastic waste. Because right now, a lot of it ends up in the environment.

Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. About 12% has been incinerated, while the rest — 79% — has accumulated in landfills, dumps or the natural environment.Cigarette butts — whose filters contain tiny plastic fibres — were the most common type of plastic waste found in the environment in a recent global survey. Drink bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags, drink lids, straws and stirrers were the next most comtháng items. Many of us use these products every day, without even thinking about where they might end up.

Rivers carry plastic waste from deep inlvà to the sea, making them major contributors to ocean pollution

A staggering 8 million tonnes of plastic kết thúc up in the world’s oceans every year. How does it get there? A lot of it comes from the world’s rivers, which serve sầu as direct conduits of trash from the world’s cities khổng lồ the marine environment.

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Data from “Export of Plastic Debris by Rivers into lớn the Sea” by Christian Schmidt, Tobias Krauth, & Stephan Wagner, published in Environmental Science & Technology (2017)

Plastic waste — whether in a river, an ocean, or on l& — can persist in the environment for centuries.

The same properties that make plastics so useful — their durability và resistance lớn degradation — also make them nearly impossible for nature lớn completely break down.Most plastic items never fully disappear; they just get smaller & smaller. Many of these tiny plastic particles are swallowed by farm animals or fish who mistake them for food, & thus can find their way onlớn our dinner plates. They’ve sầu also been found in a majority of the world’s tap water.By clogging sewers và providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes & pests, plastic waste — especially plastic bags — can increase the transmission of vector-borne diseases lượt thích malaria.

China’s Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River, which flows past Shangnhị, delivers nearly 1.5 million tons of plastic waste inlớn the Yellow Sea.

If current trends continue, our oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050.

The global volume of plastic waste continues khổng lồ grow, và some of the biggest producers don’t manage their waste effectively.

Data from “Plastic waste inputs from l& into the ocean” by Jenmãng cầu Jambeông xã & others, published in Science (2015)

But the world is waking up to the problem, and governments are starting lớn act.

There are a number of things that governments can vị — from running public awareness campaigns, khổng lồ offering incentives for recycling, khổng lồ introducing levies or even banning certain products outright.In the last decade, dozens of national & local governments around the world have adopted policies to lớn reduce the use of disposable plastic. And the number continues lớn grow.Africa stands out as the continent where the most countries have sầu adopted a total ban on the production và use of plastic bags.

An impressive — & growing — number of national và local governments have sầu taken action against plastic pollution

Source: “Banning single-use plastic: lessons và experiences from countries” UN Environment report (2018)

We’ve seen a lot of positive action, but the truth is that we all need to bởi vì more.

There are so many things that you can vị – from asking the restaurants you frequent to stop using plastic straws, khổng lồ bringing your own coffee mug lớn work, to lớn pressuring your local authorities lớn improve sầu how they manage your city’s waste. Here are some other ideas: