Portfolio Earth | Bankrolling Plastics

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Plastics which are not recycled end up in the environment and can take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose.

Plastic pollution has now reached every corner of the planet from the deepest oceans to the top of Mount Everest. At the present rate of growth, plastics production is estimated to double within the next 20 years.

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Despite bans in many countries, about 2 million plastic bags are used worldwide every minute.

Up to 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, equal to a truckload of plastic being dumped into the ocean every minute. Without major transformation in how plastic is produced and used, this figure will rise to 29 million tons in the next 20 years – the equivalent of 50 kilograms of plastic on every metre of coastline around the world.

Banks fund this pollution. They will continue to do so unless changes are called for.

Ingestion of plastic kills an estimated one million marine birds and 100,000 marine animals each year.

More than 90 per cent of all birds and fish are believed to have plastic particles in their stomachs.

The average person eats about 100 particles of microplastics in every meal – an average 70,000 particles every year.

For more on the plastics industry and how plastics harm biodiversity and the environment, download the case study.

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