The plastic industry has produced enough garbage in its 67-year existence to bury Manhattan under two miles of the nonbiodegradable trash, according to a study released Wednesday.
Unlike other materials, plastic is unable to break down. As a result, three-quarters of all plastic is not recycled, but sent to landfills, Science Advances concluded.
As of 2015, an estimated 6,300 million metric tons of plastic waste had been generated. Only 9 percent has been recycled. Another 12 percent was incinerated and 79 percent is sitting in landfills around the globe.
China is the world’s largest plastic producer, followed by Europe and North America.
More than one-third of all plastic is made for packaging, including water bottles, which the public believes can be recycled.
