Scary stat: 90.5 percent of plastic is not recycled

In this Aug. 13, 2015, file photo, a plastic bottle lies among other debris washed ashore on the Indian Ocean beach in Uswetakeiyawa, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on June 5, 2017 opened the first-ever U.N. conference on oceans with a warning that the lifeblood of the planet is “under threat as never before,” with one recent study warning that discarded plastic garbage could outweigh fish by 2050 if nothing is done. AP FILE PHOTO

LONDON — The burgeoning crisis in plastic waste has won the attention of Britain’s Royal Statistical Society, which chose 90.5 percent — the proportion of plastic waste that has never been recycled — as its international statistic of the year.

The society, which chooses a winner from nominations made by the public, picked the statistic generated in a United Nations report based on the work of U.S. academics Roland Geyer, Jenna R Jambeck, and Kara Lavender Law.

Public awareness of the problem has been growing, particularly after filmmaker David Attenborough’s documentary “Blue Planet II” showed sea turtles shrouded in plastic among other horrors.

Geyer said he was honored by the accolade and hopes “it will help draw attention to the problem of plastic pollution that impacts nearly every community and ecosystem globally.” /kga