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Humans expected to produce 72 million tonnes of plastic waste by 2026

Get you up to speed: Humans will dump 72,000,000 tonnes of plastic waste into nature in 2026 | News World

What remains unclear — It is not specified what additional measures the UK government plans to implement to address the escalating plastic waste problem.

Humans expected to produce 72 million tonnes of plastic waste by 2026

London, United Kingdom. (photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)” decoding=”sync”/>
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 WTX – 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 environment this year, experts at Earth Action have predicted.

They claim the UK alone will mismanage over 317,000 tonnes of plastic waste and export over 516,000 tonnes in 2026, with 46,000 tonnes of microplastic finding their way into the UK’s waterways.

Plastic Overshoot Day symbolises how badly humans manage plastic waste

Sarah Perreard, Co-founder of Earth Action: ‘Consider this date a warning shot.

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‘Despite improvements in handling plastic waste, we are still losing, the world is making it faster than any country’s recycling system can cope with.

‘The impact of the exponential growth of waste on the environment, and human health, cannot be ignored.’

Plastic Overshoot Day represents the annual gap between the amount of plastic waste we produce and the amount we can properly manage into a date on the calendar.

In 2026 will see the world mismanage 72 million tonnes of plastic waste, up from 69 million tonnes in 2021, Earth Action have warned in their yearly report.

That is 31.6% of the total plastic waste being generated this year, or 116 days of 2026.

Earth Action argue that this mismanaged waste will be ‘left uncollected or dumped, and from there leaks into soil, rivers and the ocean’.

Sian Sutherland, co-founer of Plastic Planet, told WTX: ‘We have spent decades pretending recycling can solve the plastic crisis. It can’t.

The report says that 46,000 tonnes of microplastic finding their way into the UK’s waterways
(Picture: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock)

‘Plastic production has created a global chemical crisis that respects no borders: chemicals and microplastics released from plastic move through our environment, our food and ultimately our bodies.

‘Plastic can contain more than 16,000 chemicals. Over 4,000 are already known to be hazardous and more than 10,000 still lack adequate hazard data.

‘That is not a material we should be producing at ever-greater scale, and recycling only acts to keep those chemicals in circulation.’

Plastic Overshoot Day was two days earlier last year, on September 4, and is even later compared to August 28 in 2021.

This means the proportion of the world’s plastic waste being mismanaged has fallen.

However Earth Action stress that the total amount of global plastic waste is still rising, from 202 million tonnes in 2021 to almost 227 million tonnes this year.

The UK-specific Overshoot Day is not until December 3, meaning that Britain is far better able to manage its own plastic waste compared to the world as a whole.

However the Earth Action report criticises the UK, alongside the US, France and Germany, as ‘Overloaders’.

These are rich countries they claim generate close to three times the global average of plastic waste per person a year.

The amount of plastic waste humans are producing continues to rise even if more of it is being well managed (Picture: Earth Action )

The report also says that the UK will be responsible for releasing 46,000 tonnes of microplastics into the waterways in 2026.

Dr Roz Savage MP, Liberal Democrat MP for South Cotswolds, said the UK should be more proactive in cracking down on plastic waste.

He told WTX: ‘I have spent months alone at sea, and there is nowhere out there now that our rubbish hasn’t reached. But this is no longer only an ocean story.

‘The same plastic is in the food we eat, the air we breathe and our own bodies, and the world is producing it faster than anyone can deal with it. Plastic Overshoot Day is yet another stark reminder of the urgency of this issue. 

‘Britain should be leading on this rather than waiting for others to move.

‘For too long we have waited for effective government action as the evidence on the impact of plastic pollution has mounted; protecting our environment and protecting our health are the same task, the time for change is now.’

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs said they were ‘determined to end our throwaway society and tackle the plastic waste polluting our streets, countryside and oceans’.  

The government statement added: ‘We are already taking action to cut plastic waste by making producers pay for the packaging they put on the market and encouraging them to use more recyclable materials.

‘We have also banned wet wipes containing plastic and made recycling easier for households across England.’

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Flights suspended at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport due to Anak Krakatau eruption

Get you up to speed: Indonesia’s main airport suspends flights due to Anak Krakatau eruption

What remains unclear — It is not yet known how many flights have been affected by the extended suspension at Soekarno-Hatta International airport.

Flights suspended at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport due to Anak Krakatau eruption

News|AviationIndonesia’s main airport suspends flights due to Anak Krakatau eruption

Volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau disrupts flights at Soekarno-Hatta International airport, near Jakarta.

Published On 6 Sep 20266 Sep 2026

Flights have been suspended at Indonesia’s main airport outside Jakarta after volcanic ash from the erupting Mount Anak Krakatau was detected over the country’s capital.

Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta International airport said on Sunday morning that it suspended flight operations until 1:30pm local time (06:30 GMT) due to “increased eruptive activity” of the volcano, more than 150km (93 miles) away.

Anak Krakatau, which began erupting late on Friday, produced a fountain of lava and booming sounds that could be heard up to 700km (435 miles) away, according to the meteorological agency BMKG.

Two new eruptions were recorded on Sunday, the volcanology agency warned.

Ash was identified as high as 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) on the Java side of the volcano, and a plume of up to 15,000 metres (50,000 ft) on the Sumatra side and some parts of Banten province in Java, BMKG posted on its website.

An earlier airport suspension had been due to end at 5:30am (22:30 GMT Saturday), affecting 33 flights, including 16 international cancellations and seven delays, Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation said.

Director General of Civil Aviation Lukman F Laisa said the extended suspension followed a “paper test” conducted between 12:35am and 1:05am (17:35 GMT and 18:05 GMT Saturday) that confirmed the presence of volcanic ash at the airport.

“Safety remains the top priority in every operational decision, including flight schedule adjustments made by airlines,” Lukman said, adding that authorities would continue monitoring the situation with airlines, air navigation services and Indonesia’s meteorological agency.

Mount Anak Krakatau volcano spews hot lava as seen from Pasauran village in Serang, Banten province, Indonesia, on September 5, 2026 [Rikardo/Reuters]

Singapore Airlines was among the carriers affected, cancelling two flights to and from Jakarta on Saturday and delaying two more into Sunday.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said on Saturday that there was no imminent tsunami risk from the eruption.

Anak Krakatau emerged from the sea in the 1920s in the caldera left by the catastrophic 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, one of the deadliest volcanic events in recorded history.

The volcano has erupted periodically in the decades since, including a 2018 eruption that triggered a partial collapse of its crater and a tsunami that killed more than 400 people along the coasts of Java and Sumatra.

Volcanic ash poses a serious hazard to aircraft, capable of damaging jet engines and reducing visibility.