World Health Organization (WHO): microplastic exposure is real, evidence of harm in humans is still limited
The World Health Organization’s cautious 2022 review says people are exposed to plastic particles but data on health effects remain scarce.
Individuals
-
-
Nine in ten seabirds have eaten plastic; 99% of species will by 2050
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) modelling of decades of seabird studies found plastic ingestion is global, pervasive and rising fast.
-
A single piece of plastic gives a sea turtle a one-in-five chance of death
Post-mortem data from Queensland, Australia, show that eating just 14 pieces of plastic gives a turtle a 50% chance of dying.
-
‘Plasticosis’: the first disease named after plastic
Seabirds on Lord Howe Island develop scar tissue in their stomachs in proportion to how much plastic they have eaten.
-
More than 1,000 tonnes of microplastic rain down on US national parks each year
Microplastic falls with rain and dust even in the most remote protected areas of the western United States.
-
The ‘450 years to degrade’ claim has no source; here is what is measured
The only systematic review of plastic degradation rates found an HDPE bottle would take about 58 years at sea for half of it to…
-
England’s plastic bag charge cut single-use bag sales at the main supermarkets by 98%
The main 7 supermarkets sold 126 million single-use bags in 2025/26, down from 7.6 billion in 2014, before the charge. All 94 reporting retailers…
-
Six of Australia’s eight states and territories ban a core set of single-use plastics
Since South Australia led in 2021, six states and territories have banned plastic straws, cutlery, plates and polystyrene food containers; Tasmania has proposed bans…
-
‘More plastic than fish by 2050’: a famous claim built on shaky numbers
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s 2016 projection rests on an extrapolation its own source author did not endorse and a fish estimate later revised upwards.
-
Only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled
The first global accounting of every plastic ever produced found that most of it is already waste and almost none was recycled.