Hrvatski
Plastic seems to be integral in our everyday lives. Almost every product we use is made of or stored in plastic containers. There are also object made of plastic that is thrown away after just one use. More than 40 percent of plastic is used just once. And while it may seem that plastic made our everyday life easier, it is making our future uncertain.
Because plastic wasn’t invented until the late 19th century, and production really only took off around 1950, we have a mere 9.2 billion tons of the stuff to deal with. Of that, more than 6.9 billion tons have become waste. And of that waste, a staggering 6.3 billion tons never made it to a recycling bin.
Devastating data on plastic that goes to waste and is not stored adequately, has led to the creation of jobs – waste pickers.
Millions of people worldwide make a living collecting, sorting, recycling, and selling materials that someone else has thrown away.
In some countries, waste pickers provide the only form of solid waste collection, providing widespread public benefits and achieving high recycling rates.
Just after dawn in Kalyan, on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, trash pickers looking for plastics begin their daily rounds at the dump, joined by a flock of birds. In the distance, garbage trucks rolling in from the megacity traverse a garbage valley. Women and children can be seen collecting plastic bottles and other plastic waste.
