Humans will dump 72,000,000 tonnes of plastic waste into nature in 2026

Campaigners say they are firing a ‘warning shot’ over the spiralling plastic waste (Picture: In Pictures via Getty Images)

Recycling cannot solve the globe’s plastic crisis, campaigners have warned, as today marks the moment this year ‘the world wastes more plastic than it can handle’.

A damning new report – seen exclusively by Metro – has been published for 2026’s Plastic Overshoot Day: the point at which humanity’s plastic waste exceeds the world’s capacity to manage it.

The symbolic milestone means that 72 million tonnes of hazardous chemicals will leak into the en...