The Amount of Plastic Used and Created Annually

In 2015, about 380 million tonnes of plastic was created. The mass of this much plastic is about the same as two thirds of the world's population back then. This plastic could eventually end up as pollutants in the ocean and other natural environments. Now, when you see the amount of plastic created each day, you have to wonder how much of it is used, and what it is used for. Well, in 2016, trillions of things were created out of plastic, some of which were made with single use plastic. This means that the plastic can only be used once and will end up in our landfills.

Here are some items that are single use plastics, and some that are recyclable.

In 2016, about 480 billion plastic bottles were sold around the world. That same year, about 1 trillion single use plastic bags were used, which is approximately 2 million used a minute. The amount of bubble wrap made each year could wrap around the equator about ten times, and about five hundred million plastic straws are used everyday all across the world. This much plastic being created and used will affect many things in the natural world.

Watch the attached video below!

Credits:

“Facts: How Much Disposable Plastic We Use.” Earth Day, 4 Dec. 2020, www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-how-much-disposable-plastic-we-use/.

Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. “Plastic Pollution.” Our World in Data, 1 Sept. 2018, ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution.