Widespread plastic production has only been going on for about 65 years, but, in that relatively short time, humans have managed to create about 9 billion tons of it.
Widespread plastic production has only been going on for about 65 years, but, in that relatively short time, humans have managed to create about 9 billion tons of it.
For comparison, that’s the equivalent of "25,000 Empire State Buildings in New York, or a billion elephants," notes the BBC.
Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Sea Education Association, and the University of Georgia made that calculation based on production information gathered from numerous sources.
That approach also gave insights into when and for what purpose the bulk of the billions of tons was made. According to the research, half has been produced since 2004 and largely to satisfy the desire for cheap, easy packaging.
If you’re imagining that, due to us living in increasingly enlightened time, most of that material is being repurposed or vanishing through some other means, you can stop.
Over 70% of the total plastic production lingers in waste streams, which include landfills, the oceans, and scattered across landscapes.
The only two ways to ensure plastic waste doesn’t pile up, other than making material that is biodegradable, are to recycle it or send it through an incinerator designed to curb harmful emissions.
Europe and China do a fairly good job at both, recycling between an estimated 25% and 30% of discarded plastics and burning about 30% to 40% of them. The U.S. does so at a rate of 9% and 16%, respectively.
Roland Geyer, one of the researchers, shared his vision of what the world will look like if the current pace of production and waste continues.
He told the Washington Post, “I think the danger is permanent global contamination with plastics. It’s just going to be everywhere, in the soil, in the ocean, in the sediment of the ocean floor, and it’s just going to accumulate.”
