The scale of the global plastic waste crisis has reached mind-boggling proportions. Nearly 15% of the world’s plastic waste – over 40 megatons – becomes plastic pollution that enters our environment every year. This animated short produced by the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers illustrates the scale of the plastic waste problem.

Video script:

According to a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the average U.S. person generates about one third of a kilogram of plastic every day.

And for every 3000 people, that’s 1 metric ton of plastic generated per day.

If we multiply that amount by the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro population of about 3.1 million people, each day the Twin Cities averages over 1 million kilograms of plastic waste per day which is 1,000 metric tons or a kiloton of plastic waste.

In a month that number grows to over 30 thousand metric tons.

Using a population of 332 million people in the United States, in 1 day we generate nearly 113,000 metric tons of plastic waste. In one month, this is over 3.3 million tons or 3.3 megatons of plastic waste. That is 3.3. billion kilograms of plastic waste generated in the US every month.

Of course, the plastics waste crisis is global.  In 2018, the UN Environment Programme estimated that in one year more than whopping 300 million metric tons of plastic waste were generated worldwide, that’s 300 megatons. That’s an enormous amount of plastic waste produced annually.

And unfortunately, according to a recent study published in Science magazine, nearly 15% of that, over 40 megatons becomes plastic pollution that enters our environment every year. The authors conclude that “Substantial commitments to improving the global plastic system are required from businesses, governments, and the international community to solve the ecological, social, and economic problems of plastic pollution and achieve near-zero input of plastics into the environment.”

Disclaimer:

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

CSP graduate student and lead author Allison Wong shares insights on some of the Lamb Group’s latest research published in Macromolecules: Improved Characterization of Polyoxazolidinones by Incorporating Solubilizing Side Chains. Wong’s introduction provides a brief overview of the research process, highlights the team’s findings, and discusses potential implications for future study. 

Check out more CSP Publication Previews on the CSP YouTube Channel.

NSF Center for Sustainable Polymer’s Director Marc Hillmyer featured on FOX 9 news discussing the CSP’s transformative research to move plastics from the current linear economy to one that is circular and bio-based.

Graduate student and lead author Rachel Rapagnani discusses published work in Nature Chemistry: Tunable and recyclable polyesters from CO2 and butadiene.

Check out more Publication Previews on the CSP YouTube Channel.

Postdoctoral researcher Yanay Popowski and graduate student Yiye Lu give an overview of their research: Stereocomplexation of Stereoregular Aliphatic Polyesters: Change from Amorphous to Semicrystalline Polymers with Single Stereocenter Inversion. 

Check out more Publication Previews on the CSP YouTube Channel.

Sean L. Jones, Assistant Director for the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the NSF, spoke about the CSP’s research at the 477th Meeting of the National Science Board. Highlighted was the Center’s Sustainable Polymer Framework, as well as Senior Investigators Geoffrey Coates and Marc Hillmyer’s work with multiblock copolymerization.

CSP Graduate Student Ethan Gormong from the Reineke Group and Hoye Group talks about published research: Synthesis of isohexide diyne polymers and hydrogenation to their saturated polyethers.

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CSP Director Marc Hillmyer testifying at the U.S. House of Representatives Research and Technology Subcommittee hearing today on Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Research: Moving from Staggering Statistics to Sustainable Systems.

CSP Graduate Student Maggie Lau from the Ellison Group talks about the recently published research Structural Basis for the Different Mechanical Behaviors of Two Chemically Analogous, Carbohydrate-Derived Thermosets.

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With generous sponsorship from Covestro, the CSP hosts an annual Covestro Lectureship in Sustainability. In 2021 the lecture was held virtually by Dr. Jenna Jambeck on the topic Sea to Source: Reducing Plastics in our Environment.

Plastic debris and its impacts in the environment have been widely documented, but the quantity entering the ocean from land was previously unknown. By linking worldwide data on solid waste, population density, and economic status, it is estimated the mass of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean at 5 – 13 million metric tons. Cumulative global plastic production reached 8 billion metric tons in 2017 and 6.4 billion metric tons has become waste that has overwhelmed some waste management systems around the world that have not been able to keep up infrastructure with economic growth.

Dr. Jenna Jambeck presented an intervention framework to reduce plastic ending up in our environment, while sharing stories of integrating technology and citizen science, science communication, and community-level efforts to address plastic pollution around the globe.

Dr. Jenna Jambeck is a Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA), Director of the Center for Circular Materials Management in the New Materials Institute and a National Geographic Fellow. She has been conducting research on solid waste issues for over 24 years with related projects on marine debris since 2001. She also specializes in global waste management issues and plastic contamination.