Scientists have conducted the world’s first tally of how much plastic we’ve made and where all of it went. And they’re absolutely horrified. “We all knew there was a rapid and extreme increase in plastic production from 1950 until now, but actually quantifying the cumulative number for all plastic ever made was quite shocking,” Jenna Jambeck, an environmental engineer who specializes in plastic waste in the oceans, told National Geographic. “If you take the 8.3bn tonnes of plastic and spread it out as ankle deep waste – about 10 inches high – I calculated I could cover an area the size of Argentina with it,” the study’s lead author, Roland Geyer, told The Guardian. “That is the world’s eighth largest country.” With these staggering quantities, the report’s authors fear we’re approaching a “near-permanent contamination of the natural environment.” Despite so much plastic already in circulation, plastic production has doubled every 15 years — outpacing every other kind of man-made material. Credit: ati
