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Environment

Most plastics are discarded, study finds

Study examines production and fate of ubiquitous material

by Cheryl Hogue
July 24, 2017 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 95, Issue 30

Photo of plastic debris along the shoreline of a beach with a palm tree in the background.
Credit: J.M. van Coutren/Marine Photobank
Plastics washed up on the beach in Isla Taboga, Panama.

Plastics add up

8.3
billion metric tons

of virgin plastics produced to date


60%
discarded in landfills or the environment

30%
in use (includes recycled plastics)

10%
incinerated

Source: Sci. Adv. 2017, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700782

For the first time, researchers have analyzed the manufacture and destiny of all mass-produced plastics ever made worldwide. Here’s what the scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Georgia, and the Sea Education Association found.

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