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      Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made

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          Abstract

          We present the first ever global account of the production, use, and end-of-life fate of all plastics ever made by humankind.

          Abstract

          Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured. We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date. As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.

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          Most cited references18

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          Microplastic in terrestrial ecosystems and the soil?

          Matthias C Rillig (2012)
          Article 0 comments Cited 337 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            A first overview of textile fibers, including microplastics, in indoor and outdoor environments

            Johnny Gasperi, Bruno Tassin, Valerie S. Langlois … (2017)
            Studies about microplastics in various environments highlighted the ubiquity of anthropogenic fibers. As a follow-up of a recent study that emphasized the presence of man-made fibers in atmospheric fallout, this study is the first one to investigate fibers in indoor and outdoor air. Three different indoor sites were considered: two private apartments and one office. In parallel, the outdoor air was sampled in one site. The deposition rate of the fibers and their concentration in settled dust collected from vacuum cleaner bags were also estimated. Overall, indoor concentrations ranged between 1.0 and 60.0 fibers/m3. Outdoor concentrations are significantly lower as they range between 0.3 and 1.5 fibers/m3. The deposition rate of the fibers in indoor environments is between 1586 and 11,130 fibers/day/m2 leading to an accumulation of fibers in settled dust (190-670 fibers/mg). Regarding fiber type, 67% of the analyzed fibers in indoor environments are made of natural material, primarily cellulosic, while the remaining 33% fibers contain petrochemicals with polypropylene being predominant. Such fibers are observed in marine and continental studies dealing with microplastics. The observed fibers are supposedly too large to be inhaled but the exposure may occur through dust ingestion, particularly for young children.
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              Synthetic fibers as an indicator of land application of sludge.

              Kimberly Zubris, Brian Richards (2005)
              Synthetic fabric fibers have been proposed as indicators of past spreading of wastewater sludge. Synthetic fiber detectability was examined in sludges (dewatered, pelletized, composted, alkaline-stabilized) and in soils from experimental columns and field sites applied with those sludge products. Fibers (isolated by water extraction and examined using polarized light microscopy) were detectable in sludge products and in soil columns over 5 years after application, retaining characteristics observed in the applied sludge. Concentrations mirrored (within a factor of 2) predictions based on soil dilution. Fibers were detectable in field site soils up to 15 years after application, again retaining the characteristics seen in sludge products. Concentrations correlated with residual sludge metal concentration gradients in a well-characterized field site. Fibers found along preferential flow paths and/or in horizons largely below the mixed layer suggest some potential for translocation. Synthetic fibers were shown to be rapid and semi-quantitative indicators of past sludge application.
              Article 0 comments Cited 179 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Adv
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Adv
                Journal ID (publisher-id): SciAdv
                Journal ID (hwp): advances
                Title: Science Advances
                Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
                ISSN (Electronic): 2375-2548
                Publication date Collection: July 2017
                Publication date (Electronic): 19 July 2017
                Volume: 3
                Issue: 7
                Electronic Location Identifier: e1700782
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
                [2 ]College of Engineering, University of Georgia, 412 Driftmier Engineering Center, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
                [3 ]Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author. Email: geyer@ 123456bren.ucsb.edu
                Article
                Publisher ID: 1700782
                DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700782
                PMC ID: 5517107
                PubMed ID: 28776036
                SO-VID: 5cf634e8-2eb7-4744-adfc-bb9ed4202485
                Copyright © Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).
                License:

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 09 March 2017
                Date accepted : 16 June 2017
                Funding
                Funded by: doi http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000084, Directorate for Engineering;
                Award ID: award320136
                Award ID: 1335478
                Categories
                Subject: Research Article
                Subject: Research Articles
                Subject: SciAdv r-articles
                Subject: Applied Sciences and Engineering
                Subject: Plastics
                Custom metadata
                Copyeditor Earl Rosopa

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