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Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made

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TLDR
By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, this work presents the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured.
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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Behavior of microplastics and plastic film residues in the soil environment: A critical review

TL;DR: The distribution and migration of microplastics in soils is summarized, the separation, extraction, and identification methods for monitoring microplastic in soils are highlighted, and the ecological effects and pollution mechanisms of soil micropl Plastic pollution are discussed.
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Distribution of plastic polymer types in the marine environment; A meta-analysis.

TL;DR: The meta-analysis demonstrates that some of the most abundant and recalcitrant manufactured plastics are more persistent in the sea surface than previously anticipated and that further research is required to determine the ultimate fate of these polymers as current knowledge does not support the deep sea as the final sink for all polymer types.
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Renewable and sustainable biobased materials: An assessment on biofibers, biofilms, biopolymers and biocomposites

TL;DR: In this article, a perspective review presents the advancement in the processing techniques, characterizations, future scope and methods to overcome the limitations in biofibers, biopolymers, biofilms, and bio composites.
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TL;DR: This manuscript reviews fifty ways in which fungi can potentially be utilized as biotechnology and provides a flow chart that can be used to convince funding bodies of the importance of fungi for biotechnological research and as potential products.
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Overview of known plastic packaging-associated chemicals and their hazards.

TL;DR: A database of Chemicals associated with Plastic Packaging (CPPdb), which includes chemicals used during manufacturing and/or present in final packaging articles, is presented and the most hazardous chemicals identified here should be assessed in detail as potential candidates for substitution.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean

TL;DR: This work combines available data on solid waste with a model that uses population density and economic status to estimate the amount of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean, which is estimated to be 275 million metric tons.
Journal ArticleDOI

Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments.

TL;DR: Global plastics production and the accumulation of plastic waste are documented, showing that trends in mega- and macro-plastic accumulation rates are no longer uniformly increasing and that the average size of plastic particles in the environment seems to be decreasing.

What a Waste : A Global Review of Solid Waste Management

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors estimate that the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated by urban populations is growing even faster than the rate of urbanization and that by 2025 this will likely increase to 4.3 billion urban residents.
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Trending Questions (1)
What are the current trends in the production and consumption of plastics?

Current trends show 8300 million metric tons of virgin plastics produced, with 6300 million metric tons of plastic waste generated by 2015. Only 9% recycled, 12% incinerated, and 79% landfilled or in the environment.