The top ten producers of single-use plastics

Global plastic production continues to soar, roaring towards a cumulative total of some 8 billion tonnes.

You’ll sometimes read that, since it’s not biodegradeable, all plastic ever created still exists. That’s not strictly true. There isn’t 8 billion tonnes of plastic in the world, since about a quarter of waste plastic is burned to dispose of it. But even that remains in the form of toxins and greenhouse gases.

Nevertheless, plastic is accumulating in the environment, a horrendous ...