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The Problem
Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications. At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.
Plastic Pollution: Key Facts
- In the last ten years, we have produced more plastic products than in the previous century.
- The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has stated that basically 100% of all plastics human beings have ever created are still in existence.
- Plastic generally takes between 500-1000 years to degrade. Even then, it becomes microplastics, without fully degrading.
- Currently, there are about 50-75 trillion pieces of plastic and microplastics in the ocean.
- This plastic either breaks down into microplastic particles or floats around and ends up forming garbage patches, see image to the right.
- There are significant negative effects on wildlife, human life and the economy. https://oceanliteracy.unesco.org/plastic-pollution-ocean/
- More plastic is entering the ocean year than is being retrieved and the problem is worsening.
- Marine plastics will have outweighed the total mass of fish in the world’s oceans by 2050, and the production of plastic pollution constitutes a planetary emergency, a stark new report concludes. The new report, which is published by the UK NGO Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) and is based on recent scientific data, estimates that there will be 250 million tonnes of plastic in the ocean by 2025. This is set to almost triple by 2040, to around 700 million tonnes – a figure equal to the weight of all fish in the ocean worldwide. https://marineindustrynews.co.uk/planetary-emergency-plastic-to-outweigh-fish-in-ocean-by-2050/
- The amount of plastic in the ocean is expected to double in the next 15 years, and by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the sea (by weight). https://www.wwf.org.uk/myfootprint/challenges/will-there-be-more-plastic-fish-sea
Addressing The Problem
CAPTURE PLASTIC BEFORE IT GETS TO THE OCEAN
FOSTER SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND SOLUTIONS THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATION & INFORMATION