Social Cost of Plastic: 2019's More Than GDP of India, Report Says
Voice of America
MARSEILLE, FRANCE - The pollution, emissions and cleanup costs of plastic produced in 2019 alone could be $3.7 trillion, according to a report released Monday by wildlife charity WWF, warning of the environmental and economic burden of this "seemingly cheap" material.
There is increasing international alarm over the sheer volumes of fossil-fuel based plastics entering the environment, as microplastics have infiltrated even the most remote and otherwise pristine regions of the planet. In its report, WWF said societies were "unknowingly subsiding" plastic. The report estimates the lifetime costs of the 2019 production is equal to more than the gross domestic product of India. "Plastic appears to be a relatively cheap material when looking at the market price primary plastic producers pay for virgin plastic. However, this price fails to account for the full cost imposed across the plastic life cycle," said the report, “Plastics: The Cost to Society, Environment and the Economy,” produced for WWF by the consultancy Dalberg.In this image provided by Giant Screen Films, Liam Fisher, Kaiden Madsen and Jessin Fisher pose for a celebratory photo on the day their fossil find was determined to be a juvenile T. rex, in North Dakota. In this photo provided by Giant Screen Films, Jessin Fisher digs for fossils on public lands near his home in Marmath, N.D. (Sam Fisher/Giant Screen Films via AP) The Hell Creek badlands of southwestern North Dakota, U.S., where a fossil of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered, is seen in this July 2016 handout photo. (Erik Freeman/Handout via Reuters)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows characters Jon, voiced by Nicholas Hoult, clockwise from left, Vic, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, and Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from the animated film "The Garfield Movie." This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows a scene from "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga."