How Many Plastic Water Bottles Are Wasted Each Year?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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More than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day – a total of about

22 billion

last year. Six times as many plastic water bottles were thrown away in the US in 2004 as in 1997.

How many plastic water bottles are used each year 2020?

Plastic Bottle Facts

481.6 BILLION plastic bottles were used worldwide in a single year. That’s 40 billion per month and

1.3 billion

per year.

How many plastic water bottles are used each day in the world?


1.3 billion

plastic bottles were used each day. 54.9 million plastic bottles were used each hour.

What percentage of plastic waste is water bottles?

Today, plastic bottles and jars represent about

75 percent

of all plastic containers, by weight, in the United States, according to the Plastics Industry Association.

How much plastic is wasted every day?


More than 60 million

plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day – a total of about 22 billion last year. Six times as many plastic water bottles were thrown away in the US in 2004 as in 1997.

How much do plastic bottles contribute to plastic waste?

The recycling rate of PET bottles and jars was

29.1 percent

in 2018, and the rate for HDPE natural bottles was 29.3 percent in 2018. The total amount of plastics combusted in MSW in 2018 was 5.6 million tons. This was 16.3 percent of all MSW combusted with energy recovery that year.

How much plastic is thrown away each year?

Today, we produce about

300 million tonnes

of plastic waste every year. That’s nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.

How many plastic bottles are thrown away every minute?

8.3 BILLION Metric Tons (9.1 BILLION US Tons) of plastic has been produced since plastic was introduced in the 1950s. The amount of plastic produced in a year is roughly the same as the entire weight of humanity. Humans use about

1.2 million

plastic bottles per minute in total.

How much plastic is actually recycled?

The truth is that only a fraction of plastic is actually recycled. According to the most recent data estimates available from the Environmental Protection Agency, just

8.7 percent

of the plastic that was discarded in the U.S. in 2018 was recycled.

How much plastic is wasted in the US?

Plastic waste treatment in the U.S.

Plastics accounted for 12 percent of the 292 million tons of municipal solid waste generated in the U.S. in 2018, totaling some

35.7 million tons

. However, the volume of plastic waste recycled in the U.S. that year was 3.1 million tons, giving a recycling rate of just 8.7 percent.

How many plastic bottles are recycled each year?

Low Recycling Numbers


Less than 3 million tons

of plastic bottles are recycled each year around the country. While that may seem like a lot of plastic, that amount represents less than 8% of the total plastic waste produced in America.

How much plastic waste is in the World 2020?

Globally to date, there is about

8.3 billion tons

of plastic in the world – some 6.3 billion tons of that is trash.

How much plastic is in a water bottle?

Samples from the brands tested varied in plastic concentrations, and the average across brands was

325 microplastic particles per liter

of bottled water, researchers found.

How many water bottles are produced a day?

EVERY DAY:

1.3 billion

plastic bottles are produced. Every day the equivalent of a bottle pile half the size of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (324 metre tall) is sold around the world.

Do water bottles get recycled?


Few Water Bottles Get Recycled

istockphoto While most plastic bottles are “recyclable,” few are actually recycled. In fact, says Dr. Gleick, about seven of 10 plastic water bottles get incinerated, dumped into landfills – or left as litter. Most plastic water bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Are plastic water bottles destroying the environment?

Taking more than 1000 years to break down,

the plastic water bottles that end up in landfills will eventually become microplastics, leaching their chemicals into the soil they are buried under or being consumed by bugs and small critters

.

How many shampoo bottles are thrown away?

Impact of Shower Products

For context, in the United States alone,

550 million empty shampoo bottles are thrown away each year

. This figure does not include conditioner, body wash, or other bathing products -just shampoo bottles.

How much plastic is actually recycled 2021?

Plastic. This will likely come as no surprise to longtime readers, but according to National Geographic, an astonishing 91 percent of plastic doesn’t actually get recycled. This means that only around

9 percent

is being recycled.

How many plastic bottles are in the ocean 2021?

As of 2021, there are at least 363,762,732,605 pounds of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans. Globally, there are approximately

8 million pieces of plastic that enter the ocean every single day

. The amount of plastic that enters the oceans annually is equivalent in weight to more than 26,000 Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets.

David Martineau
Author
David Martineau
David is an interior designer and home improvement expert. With a degree in architecture, David has worked on various renovation projects and has written for several home and garden publications. David's expertise in decorating, renovation, and repair will help you create your dream home.