Extra Material Plastic Crisis

Here you will find additional information, materials, and videos about the global plastic crisis and why the solution is so important.

Where in the world does plastic leak into the oceans?

This is not a ranking.

It’s a reminder.

The numbers show where plastic leaks into the oceans, but they don’t show the full chain behind it. Production, consumption, waste exports, and gaps in infrastructure are interconnected in a way that makes the problem bigger than any single country.

Plastic moves across borders.
Responsibility does too.

We don’t believe in looking for someone to blame.
We believe in building solutions and in being part of them.

🎥 Plastic Speaks (2:28 minutes)
AVEN EARTH has created an artistic and innovative film about the plastic problem. With calm music and powerful images, beauty and discomfort are united in a thoughtful work that touches beyond the technical and speaks to feeling, presence, and responsibility globally. We have now reached a point where the amount of microplastics in the human brain averages about 0.48% of the tissue’s weight. Researchers compare this to the weight of a plastic spoon.

For more episodes of Corsair Masterclass click here

🎥Episode 2: The Scope of the Global Plastic Crisis (3:20 minutes)

  • Global plastic production is approaching 500 million tons per year.
  • The total weight of humanity is 350 million tons → we produce more plastic per year than we ourselves weigh.
  • 95% of all plastic is not recycled. Only 5% is recycled globally.
  • Most of the plastic is burned, buried, or ends up in the oceans.
  • Plastic production is expected to triple within 30 years.
  • The growth of the middle class in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America is driving plastic consumption.
  • Without rapid action, the global recycling rate risks falling from 5% to 4% or lower.

Jussi’s main point: Without action, we will literally drown in plastic waste.

The Global Plastic Waste Crisis

I’m sure we all know that plastic waste is a major global problem.
 But exactly how big? Let’s sort this out.

Firstly, global production of new plastic has now reached levels of almost 500 million tons per year. That may not say much in itself, but let’s compare it to something.
For example, when you look at the combined weight of all people on Earth – about 350 million tons – then you begin to understand the scope of the problem.
In other words, you could say that in just one year, we produce more plastic than the total weight of all humanity.

What is worrying is that 95% of all this plastic produced today is not recycled at all.
Only 5% of all plastic waste produced annually is currently recycled.
This means that the remaining 95 percent either ends up in landfills, is burned – or, worst of all, ends up in our oceans.

To make matters even worse, it has been calculated that plastic production will triple within the next 30 years.
This is mainly due to the growth of the global middle class, especially in regions such as Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
People with more money to spend want products and services closer to them.
This means that you no longer go to the local market and buy fruits and vegetables in a bamboo basket, but instead shop in convenience stores and supermarkets where everything is wrapped in plastic.

This means that the plastic pollution we see in the world today will only get worse.
We have so far only scratched the surface of the problem.

With the global recycling rate as low as 5%, and plastic production increasing, it means that if we do not urgently build a global infrastructure for recycling plastic waste, then the 5 percent will quickly become 4 percent – or even lower.

This means that we urgently need to act to address this problem.
Otherwise, we will literally drown in all this plastic waste.