77% of plastic goes to waste every year. 18% ends up in mismanaged waste streams such as illegal dump sites or land and ocean litter.

Out of all plastic waste, 67% comes from homes, businesses, and public buildings, 11% comes from the automotive industry, 11% comes from textiles, 5% comes from building and construction, and 4% comes from electronics.

49% of all plastic generated in 2019 was landfilled, 19% was incinerated, 16% was collected for recycling (although only about 8% winds up actually being reused), and 23% became pollution.

Plastic pollution costs an estimated $300-600 billion USD per year in social and environmental impact, with some estimates above $1.5 trillion per year.

The world is wasting the equivalent of 2,189 toothbrushes worth of plastic per person per year. That’s like if you threw away a toothbrush every time you went to the bathroom. 

The world is wasting the equivalent of 2,000 Titanics worth of textiles every year. About 80% of textile production ultimately goes to waste—about 91 million tons in 2022.

About half a million tons of microplastics are released by washing clothing every year and wind up in the ocean. That’s about 5,000 blue whales worth of microplastic pollution.

In 2022, 66 million tons of textiles were made from virgin fossil-based synthetic fibers. The vast majority was polyester, accounting for 54% of all fiber production globally.  

Only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes.

People with higher incomes generate on average 76% more clothing waste than people with lower incomes.

An estimated 916 million tons of food goes to waste each year. That’s like every person on Earth throwing out 652 quarter-pound hamburger patties each year.

In the United States, the average American family of four is estimated to throw out the weight equivalent of 25 dozen large eggs each week.

61% of food waste is generated by households, while 26% comes from food service establishments and 13% comes from retail.

If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.

An estimated 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to unconsumed food.

137 billion pounds of e-waste is generated each year. That’s 18 pounds for every human. If loaded onto tractor trailers, it would fill 1.55 million trucks, stretching the entire equator.

Of the 137 billion pounds discarded, only 30 billion is estimated to be recycled in a proper, documented manner, while 40 billion goes to lower-income countries with no documented management systems, 31 billion is landfilled or incinerated, and 35 billion is unaccounted for.

Norway generates 57 pounds of e-waste per capita, which is the by-weight equivalent of a family of four discarding 57 laptops a year.

An estimated 7.3 billion pounds of e-waste is moved via “uncontrolled, transboundary movements” from high-income to middle- and low-income countries—the equivalent of 19.3 billion iPhone 15s every year.

Environmental health risks from hazardous materials from e-waste such as lead, mercury, and plastic will create $93 billion in externalized costs to people and the environment by 2030.