A new report out Friday from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warns that the amount of plastic waste worldwide is likely to nearly triple over the next four decades, leaving the world with a terrible fate by 2060 if “radical action” is not taken to curb the level of pollution.
The report — titled “Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060” — predicts that nearly two-thirds of the estimated plastic waste polluting the environment by 2060 will come from short-lived and single-use products such as packaging, cheap toys, consumer goods, household items and textiles.
The report lays out projections of future plastic production and consumption as well as a set of policy scenarios that, if enacted, could drastically reduce the scale of the crisis humanity has created with its over-reliance on cheap plastics derived largely from fossil fuels.