Social cost of 2019's plastic more than GDP of India

A ragpicker holding a sickle as she collects recyclable items at a garbage dump site on World Environment Day on the outskirts of Hyderabad on June 5. Photo: AFP

The pollution, emissions and clean-up costs of plastic produced in 2019 alone could be US$3.7tril (RM15.4tril), according to a report released recently by wildlife charity WWF, warning of the environmental and economic burden of this "seemingly cheap" material.

There is increasing international alarm over the sheer volumes of fossil fuel-based plastics entering the environment, as microplastics have infiltrated even the most remote and otherwise pristine regions of the planet.