Breaking the Plastic Wave
Landmark study projecting plastic pollution to 280M metric tons by 2040 and outlining intervention strategies that can bend the curve.
Understanding the crisis is the first step toward solving it
The facts, research, and resources behind our work — updated as the science evolves.
Scale of the Crisis
The scale of the crisis — and why cleanup alone isn't enough.
The global plastic pollution problem is not on its way to being solved. It is getting worse, faster. Independent research from the Pew Charitable Trusts projects that the volume of plastic entering the environment will more than double between now and 2040 — from approximately 130 million metric tons annually to 280 million — under a business-as-usual scenario.
No cleanup program at any scale outruns that tide alone. Which is why our model pairs verified, GPS-logged cleanup operations with education, behavior change, and connections to the policy and systems-change work that happens upstream.
Cleanup is the proof. Education is the multiplier. Policy is the endgame.
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts, Breaking the Plastic Wave (2025)
130M
metric tons entering the environment annually, as of 2025
280
projected by 2040 — more than double — under business-as-usual
Get involved
Understanding is only the beginning.
Every pound we remove is verified, GPS-logged, and publicly reported. Join us in doing something about it.
