Part 3/10:
Yet, once plastic is used, it doesn't simply vanish. For instance, a standard plastic bottle can take up to 500 years to decompose, while a polyethylene bag can linger for over a thousand years. To put this in perspective, the modern world generates approximately 50 kilograms of plastic per person annually, equivalent to 2,500 Coke bottles each year. This staggering figure underscores the seriousness of plastic pollution, especially when considering that only 9% of plastics are recycled globally.