Plastic Overshoot Day has already arrived for half of the world’s population
Next September 5 is Plastic Overshoot Day, the day when the production of plastic waste will have exceeded the recycling capacity on the planet. According to the new report of the Swiss non-profit Earth Action, in 2024 the world will generate 220 million tons of plastic waste.
This trend is steadily increasing, with a 7-11% growth since 2021. The global average amount of plastic waste per capita this year will rise to 28 kg per capita. But 12 countries are responsible for 60% of the world’s poorly managed plastic waste. The top five are China, USA, India, Brazil and Mexico.
This year’s report, based on which was calculated on 5 September as Plastic Overshoot Day, included in its analysis of plastic waste from the textile industry and household waste. That of 2023, had analyzed only plastic packaging waste.
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The disparity with which waste is distributed, however, is an important parameter. A parameter that must be considered to identify the environmental inequalities underlying the production of plastic. Almost 50% of the world’s population, in fact, in April 2024 lives in areas where the plastic waste generated has already exceeded the ability to manage them. In other words, the overshoot for them has already been achieved.
As Earth Action explains, “to monitor the problem nationally, each country has its own Plastic overshoot day”. In Italy will arrive on October 22, after the global one but still more than two months before the end of the year.
Sarah Perreard, CEO of Earth Action, “Improvements in waste management capacity are surpassed by increasing plastic production, making progress almost invisible. The assumption that recycling and waste management capacity will solve the plastic crisis is wrong”. The best solution is therefore to reduce the quantity produced, more and more.