With a planet that is quickly eroding due to the horrific production practices put into place decades ago, the plastic industry needs to be held accountable and its devastation must be highlighted. In their new blog post, Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser take an in-depth look at the statistics of plastic. From the initial foundation statistics and current growth rates of the product to the negative impacts it has and where it is occurring, you’ll be thankful for this wonderfully written expose.

Key Takeaways:

• Although the first synthetic plastic was produced in 1907, large scale manufacturing and use of plastics emerged in the 1950s.
• Although high income countries produce more plastic waste in total, they are also better-equipped to manage it.
• In 2010, roughly 270 million tones of plastic were manufactured, along with about 275 million tones of plastic waste.

“We have also produced an FAQs on Plastics page which attempts to answer additional common questions on the topic.”

Read more: https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution