Plastic By The Numbers

• Half of all plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years.
• Plastic production increased exponentially to 448 million tons in 2015. Production is expected to double by 2050.
• The equivalent of 65 trash trucks per day of plastic waste are dumped into the ocean in the United States via our land, rivers and coasts.
• U.S. exports a third of its plastic recyclables each year to countries like China and Malaysia. Not all of this plastic is re-used thus moving the plastic problem elsewhere.
• Plastic often contain additives making them stronger, more flexible, and durable. Some estimates range the breakdown of plastic to at least 400 years.
• Nearly 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been produce from the 1950’s onwards.This much plastic is equal to nearly a billion elephants or 47 million blue whales!
• Well you might be thinking what do we do with all this plastic? 9% is recycled, 12% is burned,and the rest 79% ends in the environment.
• Every year 12.7 million tonnes of plastic is littered into the ocean. That means a truckload of plastic goes into the ocean every minute.
• Scientist have found that 700 marine species are killed by plastic that is littered into the ocean.

I hope you enjoyed these fun plastic facts to help you gain more knowledge about impacts of plastic pollution.