Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics
- Media Manager
- Oct 20, 2021
- 1 min read
United Nations Environment Programme
Published: October 21, 2021
Global plastic production has risen exponentially in the last decades. It now amounts to some 400 million tonnes per year. Yet only an estimated 12% of the plastics produced have been incinerated and only an estimated 9% have been recycled. The remainder has either been disposed of in landfills or released into the environment, including the oceans. Without meaningful action, flows of plastic waste into aquatic ecosystems are expected to nearly triple from around 11 million tonnes in 2016 to around 29 million tonnes in 2040.
