If one thing is clear to me personally, concerning the problem of plastic waste, it is that we do hardly know what we are talking about. Clear, undisputed data are hardly available. But as far as I´m concerned, the problem is serious: plastics are a fantastic product, and therefore they are everywhere. They are cheap, light, and have countless applications that serve our desire for comfort and beauty.
One source that seems to be relevant is a study by Roland Geyer et al [University of California], published in Science Advances. It states that between 1950 and 2015 6.3 billion tons of plastic were produced, of which only 9% was recycled, 12% was incinerated and the rest was put in a landfill or where ever.
Today, there is a production of 380 mln. tons per year. But also here the data differ substantially. What most of us do not realize is that 99 percent of plastic is produced from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels.
The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2050 emissions associated with plastics could account for 15 percent of the global annual carbon budget. This makes one thing clear: If we want to keep ourselves to a limit of 1.5 degrees warming, we’ve got to solve the plastics problem.