Scientists in the United States have warned that plastic pollution risks “near-permanent contamination of the planet with a staggering 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics produced since the 1950s.
A study led by a team of scientists from the University of Georgia (UGA), the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Sea Education Association, is the first global analysis of the production, use and fate of all plastics ever made.
As of 2015, humans had generated 8.3 billion metric tons of virgin plastics, 6.3 billion metric tons of which had already become waste, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
In other words, the amount of plastics produced is as heavy as 1 billion elephants or 822,000 Eiffel Tower, according to the study.
Of the total plastic waste, only 9 percent was recycled, 12 percent was…
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