99% of all plastics are made from petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels—gas, oil, and coal—which drive the climate crisis.

Plastic contains harmful chemicals and never benignly degrades; instead, it breaks into small toxic pieces.

There are thousands of patented plastics, each differing from one another. Examples of synthetic polymers include polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Every year, over 400 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide. More than one-third of this plastic is packaging, and 40% of all plastic products become rubbish within one month.

For example, Coca-Cola produces 167,000 plastic bottles per minute globally—an astounding 88 billion per year. Placed end-to-end, these bottles would reach the moon and back 31 times!

Between 1950 and 2015, around 6,300 million tons of plastic rubbish have been generated. Of this, 12% has been incinerated, 9% recycled, and only 10% of the recycled plastic has been recycled again. The remaining 79% of plastic rubbish ends up in landfills or the environment.

The largest plastics manufacturers are headquartered in Western countries, but production spans over 200 countries.The industry actively lobbies to influence policy.

There's a strong link between environmental and social injustice, as communities near waste incineration sites, landfills, and illegal dumps face significant air pollution and health risks.

Each year, an estimated 14 million tons of plastic enter our seas.

A 2020 review reveals that over 900 species, including seabirds and fish, are affected by plastic consumption and entanglement. The harmful chemicals in plastics accumulate in animals' bodies, suppressing reproductive hormones, increasing disease susceptibility, and causing other fatal consequences.

Up to 2018, 86 million tons of plastic have ended up in the sea. Of this, only 0.5% is visibly floating on the surface, 26.8% is in coastal waters, 33.7% is stranded on the coast or sunk to the ocean floor, and 39% is found in the water columns of the oceans.

Plastic waste entering our oceans is expected to triple by 2050.

Plastic particles have been found in bloodstreams, breast milk,feces, hearts, lungs, veins, testicles, placentas, and the brain.

Using plastic products results in the ingestion and inhalation of large amounts of microplastic particles and hundreds of toxic substances. These substances have carcinogenic, developmental, and endocrine-disrupting impacts. The extreme lack of transparency regarding the chemicals used in most plastics and their production processes prevents a full assessment of their impacts.

Synthetic textiles account for approximately 15% of annual global plastic production. In 2017, 70% of all textiles produced—around 53.7 million tons—were made of plastic.

One machine wash of 5 kilos of synthetic textiles releases nine million microfibers. A single fleece sweater sheds 250,000 fibers in each wash.

We cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis. Plastic is almost impossible to recycle effectively, and the chance of it being recycled more than once is nearly zero. There is no true life cycle for plastic; it is a dead material that only degrades when transformed into something new.

Symbols like the chasing arrows or the Green Dot can be misleading, often giving consumers the false impression that a product or its packaging is recyclable, which is not true for many items.

Consumer-goods companies and plastics producers spend millions of dollars annually lobbying national and state governments to delay, distract, and derail real solutions to the plastic crisis.

Fiberglass, or glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), is a popular material for boats due to its durability. However, recent studies reveal its severe environmental impact. Fiberglass particles enter coastal waters from the maintenance and abandonment of GRP boats, shedding harmful particles as they age and degrade.

A study found significant fiberglass contamination in oysters and mussels near boatyards, with up to 11,220 particles per kilogram of tissue. These particles affect their health and can lead to population declines.

Stricter controls on boat maintenance and improved recycling facilities are essential to mitigate this hidden threat. Public awareness is crucial to protect our coastal ecosystems and marine life. description