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Plastic pollution, harmful accumulation of synthetic plastic products in the environment. Plastics are persistent large-scale pollutants, and plastic debris (such as bottles, straws, containers, and plastic wrap) and particulates have been found in many environmental niches, from Mount Everest to the bottom of the sea.
Plastic pollution is most visible in developing Asian and African nations, where garbage collection systems are often inefficient or nonexistent. But the developed world, especially in...
Plastic pollution has become ubiquitous in natural and built environments, raising concerns about potential harm to humans and nature alike. Once in the environment, research shows that plastic pollution is persistent and may take between 100 to 1,000 years or more to decompose, depending on environmental conditions.
Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat.
Read our explainer to find out more about the plastic pollution crisis: Why is plastic pollution such a problem? Affordable, durable and flexible, plastic pervades modern life, appearing in everything from packaging to clothes to beauty products.
Plastic pollution from land-based sources that ends up in oceans and waterways includes littered items such as packaging (e.g., flexible films), single-use products, durable consumer products, household products, and microplastics (e.g., tire wear particles and microfibers from textiles).
The U.S. produces 234 pounds of plastic waste per person per year, and hardly any of it is recycled. Here's a comprehensive introduction to plastic waste and plastic pollution, how we got here, and what we can do about it.
Plastic pollution affects all land, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. It is a major driver of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and contributes to climate change.
Plastic pollution is a global problem. Every year 19-23 million tonnes of plastic waste leaks into aquatic ecosystems, polluting lakes, rivers and seas. Plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food production ...
Currently, the plastic crisis has environmental, health, economic and social impacts – we need to redesign both the products which use plastic, how we use them in our daily lives.