Despite the implementation of strict regulations globally, single-use plastic production has increased by about six million tons per year between 2019 and 2021, while manufacturers have made “little progress” in solving this problem and increasing plastic recycling.

Single-use plastic has become one of the environment’s biggest and most urgent threats.

Every year, millions of tons of this material are buried in landfills and dumped into rivers, seas, and oceans without recycling.

The production process of this material is also one of the important sources of pollution of the earth’s atmosphere in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

In part of its research titled “Plastic Waste makers Index”, the Minderoo Foundation in Australia adds: “Make no mistake, the plastic waste crisis is going to get significantly worse before we see an absolute year-on-year decline in virgin single-use plastic consumption”

According to this report, ExxonMobil is at the top of the table and Chinese petrochemical company “Sinopec” is in second place in terms of the production volume of virgin polymer with which disposable plastic is made.

In terms of creating new facilities for the production of disposable plastic, the Chinese company “Sinopec” was in first place between 2017 and 2019, and its production capacity is supposed to reach five million tons per year.

The production capacity of “Exxon Mobil” company is about four million tons per year.

ExxonMobil did not comment on this research.

Last year, the Chinese government announced in its five-year plan that it will deal with the increase in plastic production, will significantly reduce the production and consumption of single-use plastic, and will ban some of its types.

It is predicted that the increasing trend of plastic production in China will slow down, but according to the findings of a w research, half of the 20 largest petrochemical companies in China plan to increase the production of virgin polymer, which is the raw material of single-use plastic, by 2027.

This study notes that in 2021, about 137 million tons of single-use plastic was produced from fossil fuels and predicts that by 2027, the production of single-use plastic will increase by about 17 million tons per year.