Plastic Inc – Beth Gardiner (2026)

Plastic is everywhere in daily life, yet the companies producing it, including oil and petrochemical giants such as ExxonMobil and INEOS, remain largely hidden from view. In this gripping investigative account, award-winning journalist Beth Gardiner examines the vast, rapacious industry flooding the world with plastic and preparing to produce more than ever. From the Gulf Coast of Texas to the narrow streets of Antwerp and the glamour of Dubai, she explores the industry’s relentless growth, extraordinary profits, toxic pollution and concealed role in worsening climate change. As the demand for fossil fuels declines, plastic has become Big Oil’s financial lifeline, with billions of dollars being invested in plans to double and eventually triple production. Gardiner reveals how Big Oil pushed plastic into everyday life and promoted recycling myths to ease public concern, how companies funded litter campaigns that blamed consumers for the waste they created, and how they used money and political influence to oppose bans on single-use plastics. She also uncovers the hidden health crisis linked to chemicals in everyday products and growing scientific fears about the dangers microplastics may pose. Plastic Inc is a far-reaching exposé of an industry driven by an insatiable hunger for profit.