A team of scientists, from the University of Bath's Department of Chemistry and Institute for Sustainability have found a way to create two of the world's most common painkillers, paracetamol and ibuprofen, out of a compound found in pine trees, one which is also a waste product from the paper industry.
At first I couldn’t believe that we make 100,000 TONS of paracetamol (acetaminophen) a year.
1E5 tons per year / 6E9 people on earth = 17 grams per person per year
My tylenol pills are 500mg, and ~34 pills per year seems about right.
Wow. At a density of 1.3 g/cm^3 that’s about half an olympic swimming pool of acetaminophen a year.
Nice breakdown. Maybe update your stats a little, we’re at nearly 8e9 people on the planet. Doesn’t change your conclusion much.