And only 9% of it has ever been recycled. The rest fills our oceans, our soil, and our bodies.
The Scale
million tons of plastic produced annually
never gets recycled
million tons enter our oceans each year
Breakdown
Of all the plastic ever manufactured since the 1950s, we've produced over 8.3 billion metric tons. The vast majority ends up in landfills or the natural environment — drifting into waterways, fragmenting into microplastics, and persisting for centuries. The recycling system we've built handles only a fraction of what we produce.
Impact
8 million tons of plastic enter our oceans annually. Seabirds, fish, and marine mammals mistake plastic for food, often fatally.
The average person now ingests a credit card's worth of microplastics every week. These particles have been found in blood, lungs, and placentas.
Over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die from plastic pollution each year. Entanglement and ingestion are leading causes.
Plastic production and incineration releases over 850 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually — equivalent to 189 coal plants running year-round.
History
The 2030 Project is working to change how we think about plastic — starting with the products we use every day.