Plastic Waste Statistics

Do you know…

Between the period of 1950 and 2015, the waste generation of primary (plastics manufactured from virgin materials) and recycled plastics was around 6300 million tons. Roughly, 800 million tons (around 12%) of plastics have been incinerated. 600 million tons (around 9%) have been recycled, and only 10% of which have been recycled more than once.

Approximately, around 60% of all plastics ever produced until 2010 were discarded and are accumulating in the natural environment and landfills, therefore, wasting the carbo feedstock and eventually leading to ground water pollution by the leaching of toxic additives. Waste from polymers accumulates in the environment in which they can remain for up to two thousand years.

Ref: Naser, A. Z., Deiab, I., & Darras, B. M. (2021). Poly (lactic acid)(PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), green alternatives to petroleum-based plastics: A review. RSC advances, 11(28), 17151-17196.

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