Global Plastic Production set to Double in 20 Years

“Plastic is the substance that has served as our most perfect container - and that now overwhelms our systems of containment” - Robert McFarlane, Underland

Unless production slows, an analyst added, “they’ll just find something else to wrap in plastic.”

We are heading for a massive increase in global plastic production. Not only for single-use items, but for longer lasting manufacturing as well. Plastic is the defining material of the Anthropocene, and with just 12% of all plastic produced in the world is ever recycled, it’s persistence in the environment means we are faced with an ever-present and accumulating past.

Plastic production is driven by fossil fuel extractors looking for more markets to expand into as concern about the climate emergency increases. Demand for plastic is lead by food and beverage companies, manufacturers and packaging companies always looking for ways to fill the shelves and our lives with more plastic-packaged items.

In Australia, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) set ambitious targets to take all packaging to 100% recycled, recyclable or compostable materials by 2025. Coles, Woothworths, Target, Kmart and others are APCO members and as such, supposed to be working towards these targets.

In 2020, the APCO targets, and the broader issue of plastics production will be firmly in the sights of the Waste Action Group.

For more analysis of global plastics production and its impacts on human health and the environment, read more here: The Plastics Pipeline: A New Surge in Production is on the Way