Researchers at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute added up the documented economic, environmental and health costs of plastic to the United States, across its whole life cycle. They put the total at US$436 billion to US$1.109 trillion a year.
The authors call this a conservative estimate: it only counts costs that had been estimated by July 2025, and they found big data gaps, especially for harms to human health and nature.
Thanks to Carly Wilson, director of the documentary Rubber Jellyfish, for sharing this with us.