In the next 30 years, we’ll make four times more plastic waste than we ever have
By Giorgia GuglielmiJul. 19, 2017 , 2:00 PM
Seventy years ago, plastic was barely used outside of the military. Today, we can’t live without it. And over the next 30 years, we may produce four times more plastic waste than we ever did, a new study shows.
Researchers collected data on the fate of all plastic since the material was initially mass-produced in the 1950s. By 2015, humankind had manufactured 8.3 billion metric tons of the stuff and generated 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste. Of this, 9% was recycled and 12% incinerated. The vast majority, 79%, was tossed, the team reports today in Science Advances.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/07/next-30-years-we-ll-make-four-times-more-plastic-waste-we-ever-have
