The Challenge

It’s becoming increasingly clear that we need to rethink our economic strategies and incorporate sustainable practices like the circular economy – an approach that eradicates waste, maximizes resource use, and facilitates the recovery and regeneration of products and materials once they've served their initial purpose. To better appreciate the urgency of this shift, let’s first grasp the severity of the problem we are facing, highlighted by some startling facts about plastic, waste, and pollution:

1. Approximately 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, and around 6.3 billion metric tons of that has become waste (Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. R., & Law, K. L., 2017, Science Advances).
2. Only 9% of all plastic waste ever generated has been recycled, with 12% being incinerated and 79% ending up in landfills or the environment (Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. R., & Law, K. L., 2017, Science Advances).
3. About 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the oceans each year, which is equivalent to a full garbage truck being dumped into the sea every minute (Jambeck, J. R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T. R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., ... & Law, K. L., 2015, Science).
4. If current trends continue, the ocean is expected to contain more plastic than fish by weight by 2050 (World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and McKinsey & Company, 2016, The New Plastics Economy — Rethinking the future of plastics).
5. Plastic pollution causes an estimated $13 billion in economic damage to marine ecosystems each year, affecting industries such as tourism, fishing, and shipping (UNEP, 2014, Valuing plastics: The business case for measuring, managing and disclosing plastic use in the consumer goods industry).
6. It is estimated that over 90% of all seabirds have plastic in their stomachs, with this figure expected to increase to 99% by 2050 (Wilcox, C., Van Sebille, E., & Hardesty, B. D., 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
7. More than 800 marine species have been documented to be affected by plastic pollution, either through ingestion or entanglement (Gall, S. C., & Thompson, R. C., 2015, Marine Pollution Bulletin).
8. The average person could be ingesting approximately 5 grams of microplastics every week, which is equivalent to the weight of a credit card (WWF, 2019, No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People).
9. The production of plastics accounts for about 6% of global oil consumption, and it is expected to increase to 20% by 2050 (World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and McKinsey & Company, 2016, The New Plastics Economy — Rethinking the future of plastics).
10. The global production and incineration of plastic contribute to an estimated 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, equivalent to the emissions of 189 coal-fired power plants (CIEL, 2019, Plastic & Climate: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet).
11. The fashion industry is responsible for approximately 10% of global carbon emissions and consumes nearly 79 billion cubic meters of water annually. If no action is taken to reduce its environmental impact, these numbers are expected to increase by 50% by 2030 (Global Fashion Agenda & The Boston Consulting Group, 2017, Pulse of the Fashion Industry).
12. The average consumer purchased 60% more clothing in 2014 compared to 2000, yet kept each garment for only half as long, contributing to a significant increase in fashion waste (McKinsey & Company, 2016, Fashion industry trends 2016: The state of fashion).
13. It is estimated that around 87% of the total fiber input used for clothing production, or over 37 million metric tons, is either sent to landfills or incinerated, equating to an annual loss of more than $100 billion in material value (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017, A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion's Future).
14. The environmental cost of the global cosmetics industry, including factors like packaging waste, water consumption, and chemical use, is estimated to be around $75 billion per year (UNEP, 2021, The environmental cost of cosmetics - A life cycle approach).
15. In the electronics industry, it is estimated that the average smartphone has a total lifespan of 2-3 years, contributing to rapid product obsolescence and increasing e-waste (Puls, 2018, The Shortening Lifespan of the Smartphone). Furthermore, only about 16% of e-waste generated by consumer electronics is documented as properly collected and recycled (Global E-Waste Monitor, 2020).
16. Single-use packaging, such as plastic bags, food containers, and cutlery, contributes significantly to marine litter. Approximately 50% of plastic waste found on European beaches is composed of single-use plastic items, and about 37% is from plastic packaging (European Commission, 2018, A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy).
17. Packaging waste contributes to deforestation as well. The demand for paper and cardboard packaging leads to the loss of approximately 18 million acres of forest per year, which is equivalent to roughly 27 soccer fields per minute (World Wildlife Fund, 2021, Deforestation and Forest Degradation).