The use and production of plastic has increased significantly since its invention. Plastic was not invented until the late 19th century, and the production took off around 1950. Plastic was not seen as something that would harm the environment until recently. The problem with plastic is that most of the commonly used plastics are not biodegradable and plastic waste fills our landfills, oceans, and roadsides.

Mass production of plastics began six decades ago, has accelerated rapidly,and has created 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste to date. A global shift from reusable to single-use containers has led to the build up of single-use containers in landfills because they do not decompose.

Plastic debris was first discovered in oceans around the 1960’s and caused some anxiety among consumers who started to move away from using plastics in the 1970’s and 1980’s. This caused the plastics industry to promote the recycling of plastics in the 1980’s.

Plastic is used in durable and non-durable everyday goods. Durable goods include appliances, furniture, and casings of lead-acid batteries. Non-durable goods include disposable diapers, trash bags, cups, and many more household items.

The increased production of plastics continues to harm our environment and plastic waste is harming the wildlife in the oceans. According to the UN Report that was published May 6, “Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating…”. The production of plastic needs to slow down and people need to work to fix the world.