The plastic made in a single year will cost society US$3.7 trillion over its lifetime
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Dalberg estimated the lifetime cost of 2019’s plastic at more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of…
Oceans and rivers
-
-
‘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.
-
plastic drink bottles bought every minute (2016)
Around 480 billion plastic bottles were sold in 2016, about a million a minute, according to market research cited by The Guardian.
-
km of fishing longline lost at sea every year
Longlines are long fishing lines that carry thousands of hooks. Enough is lost to circle the Earth 18 times, plus 14 billion hooks and…
-
tonnes of plastic waste already polluting the planet
The Lancet Countdown estimates 8 billion tonnes of plastic waste now pollute land, water and air worldwide.
-
plastic particles floating on the ocean surface
About 171 trillion particles, weighing roughly 2.3 million tonnes, were afloat in 2019; the number has risen sharply since 2005.
-
marine species known to be harmed by plastic debris
914 species have been recorded ingesting or entangled in marine debris, up from 267 in 1997.
-
of seabirds have eaten plastic
Modelling estimates 90% of individual seabirds have ingested plastic; 99% of species will be affected by 2050.
-
tonnes of plastic that entered the ocean in 2010 (the classic figure)
The origin of ‘a garbage truck a minute’ (about 15 tonnes per minute). It describes 2010 and land-based sources only.
-
tonnes of buoyant plastic entering the ocean each year (measured)
The lowest and most direct estimate: about 0.5 million tonnes of floating plastic a year, feeding a 3.2-million-tonne ocean stock that persists for decades.