The five largest manufacturers of disposable plastics will be responsible for a quarter of total production in 2019. The United States (USA) and China are more head and shoulders than the rest of the world. Research by the Australian Mindrow Foundation and newspaper reports show this Financial Times.
Due to demand in the United States and China, all five companies produced 26 million tons of plastic. According to the Myndro report, single-use plastics make up one-third of all plastics produced each year.
This plastic includes shopping bags, straw and food packaging. They often end up in garbage dumps or on the beach. If not recycled they end up in the oceans.
110 million tons
The report is based on research by the United Nations, the World Bank, national customs data and consulting Wood McKenzie. Half of that, or 11 million tons, was used in the United States and China.
Oil group ExxonMobil, chemical company Dove and Chinese oil refinery Sinopec topped the list of about 300 companies that produced about 110 million tons of polymers, the single-use plastic construction modules, according to a 2019 study by the Myndro Foundation.
In a statement, ExxonMobil “shares the concerns of the community about plastic waste and acknowledges that it should be taken care of. Nearly 3 billion people worldwide do not have access to proper waste collection or disposal systems.”
Exxon declined to comment further Financial Times, When asked if the company has goals to produce a higher proportion of its plastics from recycled materials. Exxon is said to ‘work on advanced recycling solutions’.
Large to small
Plastic waste is “a big problem … if we continue to do this, by 2050 there will be more plastic in our seas than fish,” said Sander DeFrode, who spearheaded the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new plastic economic initiative. Financial Times.
Although disposable plastic products can be recycled, it is often not and millions of tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year.
China, USA, Mexico, United Kingdom, Japan, India, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Germany, Spain, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Canada and South Korea: Single-use plastic required.
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