An estimated 8 to 10 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every single year, which is equivalent to around 0.5% of the world’s plastic.

In fact, South Asia is one of the largest generators of plastic waste, discarding more than 26 million tons of plastics every day. South Asia also has among the world’s highest portion of waste that is openly dumped – 75 percent.

Around 18 million tons of plastics originating from South Asia are mismanaged and, consequently, are washed into the ocean, where they emit methane and ethylene due to exposure to sunlight. Polyethylene is the highest emitter of both gasses and is the most produced and discarded synthetic polymer globally.

Plastic waste surrounds us – it is found in the air we breathe, in glacial ice on Mount Everest, in the water we drink, in fish we eat, and it was even recently discovered in  human placenta. Plastics also have indirect negative impacts across its lifecycle, the consequences of which are neither visible nor obvious.