Mountains of plastic waste piling up in landfills and estimating that there will be more plastics by weight than fish in the ocean by 2050
. “We would like to bring awareness to communities about the potential for these materials.”
By identifying areas with large quantities of plastic waste, the scientists are hoping to highlight the economic opportunities that could arise by recovering their value through different processes. Only about 5% of the waste plastic in the United States was recycled in 2019, while 86% was left in landfills. The rest was burned to generate electricity.
The researchers noted the amount of landfilled plastic waste in the United States has been increasing because of several factors, including low recycling rates, population growth, consumer preference for single-use plastics, and low disposal fees in certain parts of the country. The problem has been exacerbated by China’s refusal beginning in 2017 to import nonindustrial plastic waste from the United States.
Some types of plastic are separated and recycled, chiefly polyethylene terephthalate , used to make soda bottles; and high-density polyethylene, used for milk jugs and shampoo bottles, but these still represent a significant percentage of plastics found in landfills.