♪ ♪
The world is flooded with plastic garbage.
In this state, none of this is recyclable.
NARRATOR: Have efforts to solve the plastics problem
made it worse?
Do you think the industry used recycling
to sell more plastic?
Absolutely.
NARRATOR: "Frontline" and NPR investigate
the battle over plastics.
We have to manage the waste right.
We have to fix this.
NARRATOR: And what's at stake.
For the oil and gas industry, plastic is their lifeline.
This is the big war.
NARRATOR: Now, "Plastic Wars."
♪ ♪
(water burbling)
LAURA SULLIVAN: In 2015, a marine biologist came across
a sea turtle in distress.
Oh.
I don't want to pull it too hard.
Yeah, I mean, it's bleeding already.
Oh, poor baby.
I'm sorry.
(bleep) (bleep) Christ.
That is plastico.
Oh, man.
That's plastic.
Don't tell me it's a freaking straw.
It's just freaking...
SULLIVAN: Her video of the encounter quickly went viral.
This poor sea turtle.
SULLIVAN: It would attract more than 35 million views.
...became a rallying cry for action.
SULLIVAN: And focused public attention on a growing problem.
That turtle video certainly did have an impact.
Plastic pollution: a planetary crisis.
SULLIVAN: Plastics in the oceans have been building up
for decades.
In an underwater paradise, a plastic nightmare.
SULLIVAN: Recurring images of dead whales...
80 plastic bags found inside the whale.
SULLIVAN: Bloated seabirds... Oh.
SULLIVAN: ...and littered waterways have fueled
a global anti-plastic movement.
Enemy number one-- the plastic straw.
Many U.S. cities are taking steps to ban
plastic grocery bags...
Save our Earth before it's too late!
SULLIVAN: And yet, despite the backlash,
the industry that makes plastic is expanding.
The start of construction on
that multibillion-dollar plastics plant...
SULLIVAN: Plentiful supplies of natural gas are driving down
the cost of making plastic.
The U.S. is now one of the world's largest
plastic producers.
It's going to be the largest plant of its kind in the world.
SULLIVAN: And industry is investing tens of billions
of dollars in new plastic plants.
Construction will eventually employ 6,000 people.
SULLIVAN: By 2050, it's estimated that global production
of plastic will triple.
A plastic boom.
There's going to be more plastic than ever on the face...