ABSTRACT
Eventually, all of the world's five billion tons of plastic will release their toxins into the environment. Some will be neutralized over time and some will cause harm. How much harm is hard to say because almost all of the plastic ever produced is still intact and degradation tests conducted in laboratories can't perfectly reproduce long-term environmental conditions. But we don't have to wait for plastic to decay before it releases toxins into the environment. While oil companies, plastics manufacturers, disposers, and recyclers spend billions every year trying to prevent toxins from escaping, their efforts aren't foolproof. As a result, oil spills, oil refining, plastic manufacturing, use, disposal, and recycling all provide opportunities for the environmental release of toxins. Every year in the U.S., over a quarter million gallons of oil and chemicals are spilled, and oil refineries alone pour over half a million tons of pollutants into the air. 1
