Yikes.
It's not an exaggeration to say that the plastics we make are taking over the world.
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🟧 To date, humans have created around 11 billion metric tons of plastic. This amount surpasses the biomass of ALL animals, both terrestrial and marine, according to a 2020 study published in Nature.
🟪 Currently, about 430 million tons of plastic is produced yearly — significantly more than the weight of ALL human beings combined.
🟧 One-third of this total takes the form of single-use plastics, which humans interact with for seconds or minutes before discarding.
🟪 Most of the plastic we make, 72%, ends up in landfills or the environment. Only 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled, and 19% has been incinerated.
🟧 Half of all plastics in existence have been produced in just the last two decades. Production is projected to continue growing at about 5% annually. If current trends continue, humans will have produced 34 billion tons of plastics by 2050 — three times the current total.
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ARTICLE -- "Think your plastic is being recycled? Think again."
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/12/1081129/plastic-recycling-climate-change-microplastics/
#Plastic #Pollution #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange