World entangled in plastic waste catastrophe

Bags, bottles, straws and plates – about half of the plastic used every day is used only once and then thrown away.

This disposal after a single use is causing widespread damage to oceans, habitats and food chains, and environmental organisations have said that needs to stop.

A new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature documents a dramatic rise in the production of single-use plastics: Since the year 2000, we have used more plastics than in all the years that came before.

The world now produces nearly 300 million tonnes of plastic every year, and most of it is not being recycled.

To tackle the problem, the group has called for an international agreement banning single-use plastics and said companies responsible for producing the waste should be responsible for cleaning it up.

Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat has more.