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No Plastic Today

The problem

Plastic is in our blood, our food and our weather

It is cheap, useful and nearly indestructible. That is the problem. Here is what the strongest evidence says about plastic’s effects on people, animals, the climate and the economy, with every study linked.

Eight things the evidence is clear about

We grade every study for strength. High means large, replicated or systematic evidence. Medium means one good study. Low means small or preliminary. Contested means it is disputed or has not been replicated, and we say why. Statistics that are popular but wrong (the ‘credit card a week’, ‘more plastic than fish by 2050’) are not on this site. How we grade evidence →

The scale of it

Production, waste and where it ends up

73,710

tonnes of plastic leaked into Canada’s environment in 2022

About 1.4% of the plastic Canada threw away ended up in the environment instead of being collected.

Evidence: Medium

Statistics Canada, Physical flow account for plastic material, 2022 (released 26 March 2026), 2022 Verified 26 Sep 2026

19–23M

tonnes of plastic entering rivers, lakes and seas in 2016

Recommended headline range for plastic entering water: 19–23 million tonnes a year, or 36–44 tonnes every minute.

Evidence: High

Borrelle et al. 2020, Science, 2016 Verified 22 Sep 2026

8M

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.

Evidence: Contested

Jambeck et al. 2015, Science, 2010 Verified 22 Sep 2026

1.7M

tonnes of plastic leaked to the ocean in 2019 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development scope)

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s narrower estimate: 22 million tonnes leaked to the environment, 6.1 million to water and 1.7 million to the ocean in 2019.

Evidence: Medium

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Plastics Outlook, 2019 Verified 22 Sep 2026

0.5M

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.

Evidence: High

Kaandorp et al. 2023, Nature Geoscience, 2020 Verified 22 Sep 2026

~1 million

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.

Evidence: Contested

Euromonitor via The Guardian, 2016 Verified 22 Sep 2026

Human health

It is inside us

Micro- and nanoplastics have been found in human blood, placentas, lungs, breast milk and arterial plaque. The largest health study so far, of 257 patients having artery surgery, found plastics in the plaque of 58% of them. Over the following three years, those patients were 4.5 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, or to die, than patients without plastic in their plaque. The study shows a link, not proof that plastic caused it. The chemicals that make plastic flexible or hard, such as phthalates and bisphenols, are linked to hormone disruption, fertility problems and heart disease.

All human health evidence →

Chemicals

16,000 chemicals, most never assessed

356,238

heart-disease deaths a year linked to the plasticiser di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)

DEHP is a chemical added to make plastic soft and flexible. It was linked to 13.5% of all cardiovascular deaths among 55–64-year-olds worldwide in 2018, about 976 a day.

Evidence: High

Hyman, Acevedo, Giannarelli & Trasande 2025, eBioMedicine, 2018 Verified 22 Sep 2026

>16,000

chemicals used in plastics

PlastChem identified 16,325 chemicals in plastics; more than 4,200 are of concern and fewer than 6% are regulated internationally.

Evidence: High

PlastChem: State of the Science on Plastic Chemicals, 2024 Verified 22 Sep 2026

>4,200

plastic chemicals classed as ‘of concern’

About 26% of known plastic chemicals are of concern. They last a long time in the environment, build up in living things, spread easily in water, or are toxic. More than 10,000 have no hazard data at all.

Evidence: High

PlastChem: State of the Science on Plastic Chemicals, 2024 Verified 22 Sep 2026

Black plastic is a particular worry

Some black plastic is made from old televisions and computers, and it can bring their flame retardants with it. A 2024 US study found these chemicals, including one the US has banned, in black kitchen utensils and a sushi tray. Its risk estimate for a single utensil was later corrected down, but heat does move these chemicals into food: a UK study found a fifth of them went into hot cooking oil. Black trays can’t be sorted for recycling either, so they go to landfill. Cook with wood or steel, and tip ready meals onto a plate before you heat them.

Wildlife and ecosystems

From seabirds to soil

A small striped fish swimming beside floating plastic waste
All wildlife evidence →

Climate

Plastic is a fossil-fuel product

Around 99% of plastic is made from oil, gas and coal. Making it, and burning it as waste, released about 2.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2019, more than the aviation industry. On current growth, by 2050 plastics could use up to a third of all the greenhouse gases the world can still release if warming is to stay within 1.5 °C.

Economy

The bill is already being paid

The plastic made in a single year carries a lifetime cost to society of around US$3.7 trillion, and health damage linked to plastic chemicals exceeds US$1.5 trillion every year. Most of that is paid by taxpayers, health systems, fisheries and tourism, not by the companies that make it.

The economics of reducing plastic →

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Watch

The Plastic Country

A full-length independent documentary by Kal Glanznig on Australia’s hidden plastic crisis: where our waste really goes, who profits, and the people fighting back. Free to watch on YouTube.

Also on our list: Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics (2024, free on SBS On Demand in Australia), The Story of Plastic, Plastic Wars and more.

All films and videos →

What to do with this

Feeling alarmed is reasonable. Feeling powerless is not justified: the same evidence shows that bans work, refill systems work, and households can cut their plastic use quickly. Start with the swap that matters most for you.

Take action →

Beyond your own bin: support a group working on this on Help the cause, write to a company or your representative with our template letters, or follow new laws on the policy tracker.

See also: the numbers over time on Statistics, and the materials that can replace plastic on Alternatives.