The Global Plastics Crisis Explained in 6 Charts
August 08, 2025 | Source: Grist | by Joseph Winters
Since plastic began to be mass-produced in the 1950s, the material has been building up in the environment and in people’s bodies. These six graphs illustrate just how bad the problem has gotten, and why delegates from more than 170 countries have committed to negotiating a global, legally binding treaty to “end plastic pollution.” The second part of the fifth round of talks began on Tuesday and is scheduled to run through August 14 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Plastic production is increasing exponentially
Plastic production from 1950 to 2019, with projected growth to 2060, metric tons
The world produced 2 million metric tons of plastic in 1950. That number doubled to 4 million by 1955, then doubled again to 8 million in 1960, and has been increasing exponentially ever since. By 2019, the world was producing about 460 million metric tons of plastic every year — about the same weight as as 88 Great Pyramids of Giza.
Fossil fuel companies plan to produce even more plastic in the coming decades. According to a 2022 estimate from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD — an intergovernmental group that publishes reports and policy analyses — global production will reach 1.2 billion metric tons by 2060 unless some sort of restrictions are introduced. That’s more than 3,600 times the weight of the Empire State Building.
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