The world is dominated by plastic. The global plastic industry produces over $600 billion in revenue, annually. But what do we use this plastic for? Virtually everything, from car parts to toy dolls, from soda bottles to the refrigerators we store them in, to packaging of food and other goods. Over 40 percent of global plastic use, and almost 45 percent in the United States, is used for packaging. Plastic helps make our lives better, but it also is making the environment that we depend on for resources worse.

Americans alone throw away about 33.6 million tons of plastic each year. Only 6.5 percent of this is recycled, and only 7.7 percent is combusted in incinerators (Worldwatch Institute). Where does all the rest of this plastic go? Most of it winds up in landfills, where it can take over one thousand years to decompose, often leaking pollutants into the soil and water.

In fact, over a quarter of worldwide plastic is disposed of in landfills, where its resources are wasted, and where it takes up valuable space and land. Many plastic scraps from western countries are shipped to China, which receives 56 percent of global waste plastic imports. In addition, landfills contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, mainly methane and carbon dioxide, as materials decompose. In 2010, landfills accounted for 16.2 percent of methane emissions in the United States (Environmental Protection Agency). This is the equivalent of 107.8 million tons of carbon dioxide, as methane is more potent as a heat-trapping gas.

This is alarming because global plastic and waste production still continues to grow, requiring more land for landfills, and as a result emitting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, impacting the earth’s climate.

That 250,000 metric tons, and a minimum of 5.25 trillion particles of plastic that winds up in the ocean, whether it be whole water bottles or small pellets, greatly impacts marine ecosystems. According to a 2009 study, organic chemical pollutants can also be absorbed by these plastics and become ingested by organisms and cascade through a food chain.

These impacts are further exacerbated by the presence of floating plastics, such as large nets, resin pellets, docks, and boats that can bring microbial communities (algae, invertebrates, and fish) to non-native regions. Furthermore, marine organisms can become entangled in plastic debris. In the last decade, fatal entanglement and ingestion of marine debris has increased by 40 percent, killing organisms as small as zooplankton to whales, to seabirds and turtles.