“Only a fraction of the plastic produced gets recycled: About 9 percent worldwide and about 5 to 6 percent in the United States.” There’s also a very big (and very small) problem when it comes to the plastic that does get recycled. “A recent peer-reviewed study that focused on a recycling facility in the United Kingdom suggests that anywhere between 6 to 13 percent of the plastic processed could end up being released into water or the air as microplastics — ubiquitous tiny particles smaller than five millimeters that have been found everywhere from Antarctic snow to inside human bodies.” WaPo (Free Article): The little-known unintended consequence of recycling plastics.