Plastic is, quite literally, everywhere. We see it scattered across roads and piled up in heaps in our cities and towns. It is in consumer products, vehicles, food packaging, clothing, cosmetics, and medical devices. It has been found in the Mariana Trench, on the flanks of Mount Everest, and in the land and water in between. Microplastics—or plastic particles that are less than five millimeters in size—are floating through the atmosphere and in people’s meals. As a result, they have worked their way inside everyone’s bodies and gotten tangled up in brains, hearts, and other organs. Scientists have discovered links between spiking rates of chronic conditions and illnesses and increased exposure to plastics.

Policymakers are increasingly aware that plastic, for all the conveniences it provides, is a threat to both nature and human health. Yet plastic pollution—or plastic that ends up somewhere other than a waste facility or a recycling center—continues to accelerate each year. According to a 2025 Pew report authored by a collection of scientists, sustainability experts, economists, and former officials, including me, plastic production has increased by 13 percent over the last five years (excluding plastic created via recycling). We estimate that if plastic production continues on its current trajectory, rising from 450 million metric tons in 2025 to 680 million in 2040, plastic pollution will increase from 130 to 280 million metric tons. The latter figure is the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic dumped onto the ground every second for a year.

Thankfully for the world’s well-being, governments and businesses can prevent this future. According to our findings, it is possible to cut plastic pollution by 83 percent over the next decade and a half using existing technologies and policy solutions. Governments can do so by setting up rules that reorient production and packaging systems away from single-use plastic and to other materials, as well as by improving waste management so that less plastic ends up in the environment. Businesses can remake plastic itself so that it has fewer harmful chemicals, ensuring that it is safer to both use and recycle.

If states and businesses succeed at making these changes, they will create millions of new jobs and save billions of dollars. They will curb pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions, and save countless people from illnesses. But they need to act quickly. Otherwise, the planet might end up being overwhelmed by its most pervasive synthetic material.

Plastic is problematic because of how much of it is produced and how durable it is. Other consumer materials, such as glass and paper, can certainly pollute. But paper degrades into natural substances reasonably quickly, and glass eventually turns into sand. Plastic takes hundreds of years or more to break down, and it often contains so-called forever chemicals, which last even longer. As a result, plastic pollution becomes an enduring feature of its environment, far more so than other materials.

Right now, governments are handling the world’s ever-growing stockpile of plastic trash by burning plastic, recycling it, or burying it in landfills. But none of these options can protect the planet from being deluged. Burning plastic releases harmful chemicals into the atmosphere and leaves behind mounds of plastic ash. With current systems and technology, most plastic cannot be easily recycled; as a result, only nine percent of it is. And the planet simply doesn’t........

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