'It's easier to find where it isn't used': How plastic became humanity's worst invention

Life feels busy enough without worrying about climate change. But small, everyday choices — however modest they may seem — can add up to meaningful change.

What is actually happening to our planet, and what better choices can we make? This column brings you the real story of Earth, told in practical terms.

Marine plastic waste washed ashore at Kamilo Beach, Hawaii. [Provided by Gyres Institute]

"It's easier to find where it isn't used."

One material has become more widely and diversely used than any other in modern life — and is simultaneously regarded as the worst hazardous substance humanity has ever invented.

That material is plastic. Invented roughly 200 years ago, plastic is now used so broadly that listing every application has become nearly impossible.

Its greatest advantage is cost: it is cheap. It can be molded into any shape or color with ease, and it is light and resistant to breaking.

Because it is derived from fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas, mass production has never posed a problem.

Steam billows from the smokestack of the Seo-Incheon Combined Cycle Power Plant in Seo-gu, Incheon. [Lim Se-jun]

Plastic was, in every sense, a blessing for humanity. But it did not take long for that blessing to become a curse.

Humanity soon recognized the enormous carbon emissions and environmental damage that plastic causes.

Worse still, microplastics — formed as plastic breaks down — are now being found not only throughout the natural world but inside the human body itself. The health consequences are coming to light one by one.

PET bottles piled up at a plastic waste collection point in an apartment complex. [Joo So-hyun]

From humanity's blessing to its curse: How plastic conquered the world

True to its etymology, plastic is a polymer material that can be shaped into any form under heat and pressure. It is cheap, light, shatter-resistant and a poor conductor of electricity — and it can be produced in any color. Every industry that makes physical goods was almost destined to use it.

Plastic first appeared in the 19th century. An American company offered a $10,000 prize to anyone who could develop a substitute for expensive elephant ivory, and that challenge led to the discovery of a plastic derived from cotton fiber that could mimic natural materials.

It was nothing short of a revolution in manufacturing history. For the first time, industries that had depended entirely on natural materials — wood, metal, stone, ivory — had access to a human-made material. In simple terms, goods could now be produced without being constrained by the limits of finite natural resources.

A coastline blanketed in plastic waste. [Provided by Greenpeace]

Plastic was even celebrated as a blessing that could halt the destruction of nature, on the belief that it would reduce the need for natural raw materials in manufacturing. Against that backdrop, the plastic industry expanded explosively through World War II, driven by its widespread use in military equipment.

Most plastics are derived from fossil fuels such as natural gas and petroleum — giving the fossil fuel industry yet another use for what it was already producing in abundance. It is little surprise, then, that plastic spread across the world with remarkable speed in the decades after its invention.

The shift in perception — from blessing to problem — came a long time ago. After Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" transformed the environmental consciousness of the 1960s, plastic waste emerged as a new flashpoint. Images of plastic-strewn coastlines changed the way people thought about the material.

A model of a suffocating whale installed in Manila, the Philippines. [Provided by Greenpeace]

The central problem is that plastic is produced without end, yet never fully decomposes. People began imagining a distant future Earth buried under mountains of plastic waste. But a growing awareness of plastic's harms did not mean humanity could simply stop using it.

As has been true for most of human history, the impulse to sacrifice present convenience in order to protect future generations has attracted little serious attention.

According to an OECD report on plastics published in 2022, global plastic production stood at roughly 2 million tons in 1950, rising to 234 million tons by 2000. By 2019, output had reached 460 million tons — doubling in just 20 years. Over the same period, plastic waste grew from 156 million tons to 353 million tons.

Microplastic fragments found on a beach. [Getty Images Bank]

Recycling alone cannot stop the pollution

Some point to recycling as the answer. But recycling is a response to pollution that has already occurred — it does not address the root of the problem. Plastic is far more complex to recycle than paper, metal or glass. Recycling systems differ by material composition, and the presence of various composite materials makes clean recycling difficult.

Once recycled, plastic typically loses strength, clarity and hygiene standards, making it unsuitable for its original use and relegating it to lower-grade products instead. Ultimately, it ends up discarded and polluting the planet anyway. In practice, the share of plastic that is genuinely recycled remains vanishingly small.

According to the OECD report, only 9 percent of global plastic waste was ultimately recycled as of 2019. Another 19 percent was incinerated and 50 percent went to landfill. The remaining 22 percent was estimated to have ended up in poorly managed dump sites or discarded directly into the ocean or on land.

The plastic waste problem extends well beyond the unsightly accumulation of rubbish. Discarded plastic breaks down slowly over hundreds of years, fragmenting into ever smaller, harder-to-detect particles that spread to every corner of the world. Plastic has now been found in nearly every ecosystem on Earth, from Antarctic tundra to tropical coral reefs.

Plastic waste discarded on a coastline. [Getty Images Bank]

Plastic that flows into the ocean is a primary driver of plastic pollution worldwide. Estimates suggest that roughly 0.5 percent of all plastic produced ends up as marine debris, yet the problem continues to generate intense concern. For many people, "the plastic problem" conjures images of sea turtles with straws lodged in their nostrils.

But plastic is not simply an animal welfare issue. Finely fragmented plastic spreads from marine ecosystems throughout the entire natural world and, through the food chain and other pathways, inevitably finds its way back to humans.

What remains unclear, however, is the precise harm that plastic can cause to animals — including humans — and the extent to which it disrupts ecosystem dynamics.

Plastic waste. [Provided by Green Korea United]

Microplastics found in fetal blood — yet consumption keeps rising

The scale of the problem is becoming clearer through a growing body of microplastics research. Microplastics have been detected in soil, the ocean, the air and even the blood of healthy adults. Studies have also suggested that microplastics absorbed by a mother can be passed on to the fetus.

In a 2022 report, the World Health Organization said there were significant limitations in assessing microplastic exposure through food, water and air, and in evaluating the potential health effects. Some have used this finding to argue that microplastics are not particularly harmful.

Plastic waste discarded at a makeshift dump site 3.5 kilometers from Everest Base Camp. [Getty Images]

Interpreting that finding as evidence of "no danger," however, is a stretch. More precisely, the data needed to establish definitive health harm have not yet accumulated. The latest research indicates that microplastics can penetrate various human tissues and may contribute to cardiovascular disease, inflammation and reproductive health problems.

That covers only the physical dimension of plastic pollution. The other major axis of the plastic problem is climate change driven by carbon emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from the production and use of plastic amount to roughly 1.8 billion tons per year — about 3.4 percent of global emissions. Some 90 percent of that total arises from converting fossil fuels into new plastic products.

The pollution trajectory shows no sign of improving. The World Economic Forum has projected that, without intervention, the global plastics industry will account for 20 percent of total oil consumption and up to 15 percent of global carbon emissions by 2050. The OECD has similarly forecast that related greenhouse gas emissions will roughly double by 2060.

Black plastic containers. [WRAP website]

A lukewarm global consensus — and South Korea is no exception

That is not to say there is no solution to the plastic problem. The answer is, in fact, straightforward: stop producing plastic. If plastic products never enter the world in the first place, there is no need to worry about microplastic pollution from decomposition or policies to raise recycling rates.

Efforts to end plastic are underway. The problem is that global consensus has proven elusive.

Following a 2022 resolution by the UN Environment Assembly, more than 180 countries agreed to negotiate a legally binding international plastics treaty by 2024. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) was established to that end, but meaningful agreement has remained out of reach years on.

Activists from the "Plastic Roots Solidarity" coalition stage a performance outside the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, calling on the government to join a strong plastics regulation treaty and push for a binding international agreement. [Provided by Plastic Roots Solidarity]

Hopes ran high when the fifth round of negotiations was held in Busan in 2024, but the talks ended without a treaty. A subsequent session — INC-5.2, held in Geneva, Switzerland in 2025 and seen as a last chance — also failed to produce a meaningful agreement.

The chief obstacle has been resistance from oil-producing nations and countries heavily dependent on the petrochemical industry, which have refused to accept production limits. These countries argue that capping production would deal a severe blow to their economies and industries, and have pushed instead for solutions centered on improved waste management and recycling technology.

The United States, the world's largest economy, has also explicitly rejected production limits in the plastics negotiations since President Donald Trump returned to office. Ahead of INC-5.2 last year, the Trump administration sent a letter directly pressuring other countries to oppose production restrictions. Other nations have had little choice but to fear that defying Washington could invite economic pressure, including tariff adjustments.

Disposable plastic waste discarded in an alley near Hongik University Station, Seoul. [Kim Gwang-woo]

The forces opposing an end to plastic are once again gaining strength. South Korea is no exception. The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy unveiled a comprehensive "plastic-free master plan" in December last year, pledging to finalize a plan that would include a transition to a circular economy. More than six months later, the final plan has yet to be released.

Concerns are growing that the government's plastic-free policy may be backsliding. In particular, critics point out that the ministry pledged to develop a plastic-free circular economy roadmap through a public deliberation process involving citizen participation — a commitment that has not been fulfilled.

A coalition of seven environmental groups — including Greenpeace, Green Korea United, the Mapo Resource Circulation Network, the East Asian Seas Community Ocean (OceanEast), the Seoul Environment Federation, the Korea Women's Environmental Network and the Korea Federation for Environmental Movement — issued a joint statement on World Environment Day, June 5, raising these concerns.

Plastic waste found on a beach. [Getty Images Bank]

The coalition said the government was "ignoring the most important principle — citizen participation — in the very process of designing policy, even though going plastic-free is a societal transformation that must change production, consumption, industry and people's lives together." It warned that "at this rate, an independent plastic-free policy is unlikely to be established and will probably drift without direction."

The groups added that "an independent, comprehensive plan with an effective implementation roadmap and monitoring framework — centered on reducing the total volume of plastic entering the market, cutting plastic at the source, and expanding reuse — is absolutely essential for the transition to a plastic-free economy." They called on the government to disclose a timeline for releasing the final plastic-free master plan and to establish a governance structure that includes a public deliberation process for developing the plan.

“매일 2~3잔씩 먹는데” 플라스틱 쓰레기가 ‘한가득’…종이컵 커피, 이제 못 먹겠다 [지구, 뭐래?]

[헤럴드경제=김광우 기자] “밥 먹고 꼭 챙겨 먹었는데” 1인당 커피 소비량만 약 400잔. 한국의 커피 사랑을 촉발한 일등 공신이 있다. 바로 종이컵에 담아 마시는 ‘커피

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