We Made Plastic. We Depend on It. Now We’re Drowning in It.

The miracle material has made modern life possible. But more than 40 percent of it is used just once, and it’s choking our waterways.

Just after dawn in Kalyan, on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, trash pickers looking for plastics begin their daily rounds at the dump, joined by a flock of birds. In the distance, garbage trucks rolling in from the megacity traverse a garbage valley. The woman carrying the red cloth lives at the landfill.

25 min read

This story is part of Planet or Plastic?—our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge.

Read this story and more in the June 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine.

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We Made Plastic. We Depend on It. Now We’re Drowning in It.

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