6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.com

Hello this is 6 minute English from BBC learning English. I'm Neil and I'm Beth.

Plastic pollution is a problem we've discussed before on six minute English.

It's an environmental issue which, like the growing amount of plastic waste, isn't going away.

And now microparticles of plastic have even been found, can you guess where, Beth?

Let me guess.

In our food, inside dead animals at the North Pole.

At the top of Mount Everest, although the other places you mentioned are true as well.

Plastic is a tough problem to fix, but fortunately scientists may now have found a solution.

In this program we'll be hearing about chemical recycling, a groundbreaking way of making old plastic new again,

and as usual we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first I have a question for you Beth.

Visit the country or seaside and you'll soon see evidence of plastic waste.

According to the UN, around 400 million tons of new plastic is produced every year, much of it going to waste.

It's hard to imagine what 400 million tons looks like.

So which of the following, if you placed on a set of scales, would weigh about the same?

Is it A, all the people on Earth, B, all the cars on Earth, or C see all the elephants on earth?

I think all the cars on earth would weigh about 400 million tons.

Okay Beth we'll find out if that's the right answer later.

Globally, less than 10% of all plastic gets recycled.

Some gets incinerated or burnt, and about half of all plastic waste goes straight to landfill

meaning it's buried underground but as reporter for BBC World Service program

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