Global use of plastics has grown massively in the last 70 years, reaching an estimated 460 million tonnes in 2019¹. Plastic is a useful and diverse material integral to our lives with many unique properties including being durable, light weight and affordable. Despite its many benefits, there is a negative side to plastics with the current scale of production, use of chemicals, lack of circularity, and mismanagement of plastic waste causing major environmental impacts. These impacts intersect the ongoing triple planetary crisis of climate change, loss of nature and biodiversity, and pollution of soil, water, and air.

This interactive infographic aims to provide an overview of what these environmental impacts of plastics on the triple planetary crisis are.

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