Since plastic began to be mass-produced in the 1950s, the material has been building up in the environment and in people’s bodies. These five graphs illustrate just how bad the problem has gotten, and why delegates from more than 170 countries have committed to negotiating a global, legally binding treaty to “ end plastic pollution .” The second part of the fifth round of talks began on Tuesday and is scheduled to run through August 14 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Plastic production is increasing exponentially

Plastic production from 1950 to 2019, with projected growth to 2060, metric tons Source: OWID Clayton Aldern / Grist / Killari Hotaru / Unsplash

The world produced 2 million metric tons of plastic in 1950 . That number doubled to 4 million by 1955, then doubled again to 8 millio

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