metric ton
nounDefinition of metric ton
: a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms — see Metric System Table
Examples of metric ton in a Sentence
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In January of this year, China accepted just over 11,000 metric tons of mixed paper and 5,000 metric tons of plastic scrap. — Author: David Goldstein, Anchorage Daily News, "Cities scramble to rewrite rules on recycling after China restricts ‘foreign garbage’," 3 July 2018 Scientists estimate that a total of about 8 million metric tons of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year. — James Rainey /, NBC News, "Top items from beach cleanup: plastics, plastics and more plastics," 27 June 2018 The world’s 700 million iPhones make up roughly a tenth of a million metric tons. — Fortune, "China Just Handed the World a 111 Million Ton Trash Problem," 20 June 2018 Previous research has suggested that the world can only emit another 200 billion to 400 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide before overshooting the target. — Chelsea Harvey, Scientific American, "World Has Only 20 Years to Meet Ambitious 1.5-Degree C Warming Threshold," 19 June 2018 The new paper estimates that between 1992 and 2011, Antarctica lost ice at a rate of 76 billion metric tons per year, but since then, the rate has increased to 219 billion metric tons per year. — Mejs Hasan, WIRED, "How Scientists Tracked Antarctica's Stunning Ice Loss," 13 June 2018 From 2007 to 2012, the annual loss had widened to 160 billion metric tons. — Amina Khan, latimes.com, "Antarctica’s ice is shrinking at an unprecedented rate that could imperil coastal regions worldwide," 13 June 2018 Antarctica is believed to have lost an average of 71 billion to 53 billion metric tons of ice per year between 1992 and 2011, according to a new study. — Jen Christensen, CNN, "Scientists lay out how to save a melting Antarctica -- and the grim future if we don't," 13 June 2018 Using data collected by and within 160 countries, the researchers estimate that global tourism in 2013 accounted for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 4.5 billion metric tons of CO2, or about 8% of global emissions that year. — Sid Perkins, Science | AAAS, "Tourism is four times worse for the planet than previously believed," 7 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'metric ton.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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