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In This Issue: (links to articles below)

• Deeper Dive: Plastic production is increasing and recycling is stagnant
• Deeper Dive; How single-stream recycling works—your choices can make it better
• Tracking Plastic News
• Coastal Hotspot: Milnerton Beach, False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa
• Featured Solution: Street Stewards
• Expert: Minna Epps, IUCN Global Ocean Director

Did you know?

In 1950, global plastic production was about 2 million tons. It's now about 400 million tons—an increase of nearly 20,000%.

Taking a Deeper Dive

Plastic production is increasing and recycling is stagnant

Image credit: Plastics News/Recycle Minnesota

An April 17, 2025, study reported in Plastics News confirms that plastic production is expanding, as predicted by many sources, with most new plastic still made from fossil fuels. "362 million metric tons (Mt) are produced as plastic virgin resin production and around 38 Mt are generated as secondary plastics from plastic mechanical recycling ... 44% of the virgin resin was derived from coal, 40% from petroleum, 8% from natural gas, 5% from coke and 1% from other sources. Only 2% of the global plastics feedstocks are generated from bio sources.” The April 6, 2025, study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment also reported that:

• Incineration is emerging as a prominent waste disposal method (34%),
• Landfill use is decreasing substantially at 40%, and
• Recycling is stagnant at 9%.

A total of 382.12 Mt of plastics entered the use stage in 2022, with the following breakdown

• 158.04 Mt in packaging,
• 72.05 Mt in building and construction,
• 32.02 Mt in automotive,
• 28.02 Mt in electrical and electronics,
• 28.01 Mt in household and textile,
• 16.01 Mt in agriculture, and
• 48.03 Mt in others. 

“The global annual production of plastics grew from 2 Mt in 1950 to 400 Mt in 2022, at an annual growth rate of 8.4%.”

The study reports that even with an international effort to reduce plastic production, “a comprehensive analysis of global plastics stocks and flows along the whole supply chain has not been examined.” There have only been regional and national studies.

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How single-stream recycling works—your choices can make it better

Image credit: PHYS.ORG

We’ve written before about wish-cycling, the tendency to hope that what you put in the recycling bin is actually recycled. An April 17, 2025, article in PHYS.ORG reviews the current status of recycling in the U.S. Single-stream recycling is the term given to the process where we put all of our recyclable material in a single bin, understanding that it will be recycled. A 2019 report by The Recycling Partnership found that 15 – 25% of materials in single-stream processes end up in the landfill.

Less than 9% of all plastic is recycled in the U.S. But why?

According to PHYS.ORG, “Contamination, such as food residue, plastic bags and items that can't be recycled, can degrade the quality of the remaining material, making it more difficult to reuse. That lowers its value. Having to remove that contamination raises processing costs and can force recovery centers to reject entire batches.”

Some plastics typically can not be or are difficult to recycle.

• Symbol 3—Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) degrades easily, and melting can release toxic fumes during recycling, contaminating other materials and making it unsafe to process in standard recycling facilities.
• Symbol 4—Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is prone to getting tangled in sorting machinery at recycling plants.
• Symbol 6—Polystyrene, often used in foam cups, takeout containers and packing peanuts, is lightweight and brittle, difficult to collect and process, and easily contaminates recycling streams.

These three plastics can be recycled in many facilities.

• Symbol 1—Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, widely used in soda bottles.
• Symbol 2—High-density polyethylene, or HDPE, commonly used in milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles.
• Symbol 5—Polypropylene, or PP, used in products such as pill bottles, yogurt cups and plastic utensils.

However, even these materials have challenges.

When ground up PET, HDPE, and polypropylene are placed in water, the PET sinks and can be separated from the other two. The HDPE and polypropylene both float and can't be recycled together. So, more advanced and expensive technology is often required to separate those two materials, making them unattractive for recycling by some facilities. If they are mixed and attempted to be recycled into new plastic, they are often brittle and unusable for new products.

PHYS.ORG says “You can help the recycling process by taking a few minutes to wash off food waste, avoiding putting plastic bags in your recycling bin and, importantly, paying attention to what can and cannot be recycled in your area.”

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OpenOceans Global is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

Help Locate Plastic-Fouled Coastlines

Each month we share an image of a beach fouled by plastic. To report a shoreline pervasively fouled by significant amounts of plastic debris, use our online plastic trash reporting app. Thank you!

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This Month’s Coastal Hotspot: Milnerton Beach, False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

Image credit: Peter Ryan/University of Cape Town

The location of Milnerton Beach. Image credit: Esri ArcGIS Online/OpenOceans Global

Urban waste washes into the ocean via rivers along False Bay in Cape Town, South Africa, including Milnerton Beach (above). When the Zandviel Estuary is opened to allow water to flow before the first winter storm, plastic debris washes into the ocean but stays within a few hundred yards of the estuary mouth. According to researcher Peter Ryan in an article published by the University of Cape Town, “It seems that most litter from rivers entering False Bay washes ashore. This is encouraging, because it means that by cleaning beaches we can prevent most of the urban litter from getting into the sea.”

Solutions to the Ocean Plastic Crisis

See more solutions on our ocean plastic solutions page. Have a solution we should know about? Submit it here.

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This Month's Featured Solution: Street Stewards

Image credit: Street Stewards

A San Diego-based non-profit, Street Stewards, offers a free map-based Adopt-a-Block program that coordinates community volunteers to clean neighborhood streets one block at a time. The efforts make for a cleaner community and reduce plastic waste from reaching the ocean via storm drains and unintentional runoff. Community volunteers join existing cleanups or may adopt a block in their neighborhood. The next step is to clean the “adopted” area and record the route on the community map. The map turns green as streets are cleaned, helping to visualize progress and what other areas might need attention. Keeping streets near shorelines and storm drains clear is integral to mitigating ocean plastic.

Meet the Experts and Leaders

OpenOceans Global is identifying ocean plastic experts from around the world. Here is an expert leading efforts to reduce plastic pollution that you should know about.

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Minna Epps, IUCN Global Ocean Director

Image credit: Earth Negotiations Bulletin

Minna Epps has led the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Ocean Program since 2019. In that role, she oversees IUCN’s extensive work in addressing ocean plastic pollution as part of the Close the Plastic Tap initiative, which included the organization’s plastic hotspotting guidance and the 2022 report, A Solution Package for Plastic Pollution – From Measurement to Action. Her global policy work includes heading IUCN Delegations for various marine multilateral environmental agreements and negotiations. She has more than 20 years of marine conservation work experience, ranging from field work in Madagascar to global policy work in Geneva. Epps chairs the Blue Natural Capital funding facility executive committee, the Blue Carbon Accelerator Fund, and the IMPAC International Steering Committee, as well as serving as a strategic advisor to the Blue Action Fund, the One Planet Fund, and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s ReOcean Fund. She represents IUCN in several high-level ocean networks, as well as coordinating marine scientific research. Epps is a WEF Friends of Ocean Action Leader. Her current focus is on developing policy influencing and advocating strategies that address threats and stressors to the world’s ocean, including climate change, marine plastic pollution, extractive industries, ocean acidification, and unsustainable use of ocean resources. Her policy work also includes exploring innovative finance models while promoting feasible solutions supported by scientific knowledge. She previously held positions at the Marine Stewardship Council, UNEP, WTO, and the European Commission. A marine biologist, Epps has studied at Imperial College, the University of Rhode Island’s School of Oceanography, and U.C. Berkeley.

Please consider supporting our important work.

OpenOceans Global is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

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