The “plastic alert” is getting more and more worrying. A study from the University of California, published by the magazine “Science Advances”, brings to light the fact that the Earth is swamped by 8.3 billion tons of plastic (of which 6.3 billion have already become rubbish). It is the first global mass analysis of all the plastic produced. How much is that much? It is the equivalent of a billion elephants or 80 million blue whales, or 25 thousand Empire State Buildings, or 822 thousand Eiffel Towers. Its production growth is also worrying: about a half of the plastic in question has been produced in the last 13 years. Besides, the global production has grown from 2 million tons in 1950 to over 400 million in 2015. An ecological disaster created in only 70 years.

Is recycling the solution? Yes, but it’s not enough. It is estimated that only 9% of plastic is recycled, while 79% is in landfills (or dispersed in the environment) and 12% is destroyed through thermal processes like pyrolysis or combustion. Recycling delays but doesn’t solve the issue of plastic disposal, considering that it gets discarded after less than 4 years of use. Reducing the production could be an option, but it is a difficult objective to pursue, especially considering the economic interests surrounding its production and diffusion. One of the main causes of the exponential growth is the market of packaging, which has led to a diffusion of plastic bottles and containers of all types.

This uncontrolled development has caused an extensive pollution of the waters of our planet, to the point of forming “rubbish islands”, masses of plastic in the middle of our oceans (every year there are 8 more million tons of plastic in the seas) invading the natural habitat of sea animal species, which suffer the worst consequences of this situation, victims of a gradual poisoning affecting the whole ecosystem.
Perspectives are even worse than the present. The future scenario? According to the analysis carried out by the University of California, at this rate the environment will eventually be submerged in over 13 billion tons of discarded plastic.