Plastic pollution is one of the most prominent problems facing the world today. Estimates show that at least 8 million pieces of plastic are entering the oceans everyday, and over 8 million tons are dumped in the ocean every year. Plastic that enters the ocean can be eaten by sea life causing damage or even death, alternatively sealife can get tangled up in it, which can also kill.
Plastic gets into the ocean through litter which comes from rivers, or dropped into drains, or even rubbish that gets flushed down the toilet. Other rubbish comes from ships which crash/containers which are lost, or fishing gear that is damaged or abandoned.
The problem with plastic is that it doesn't decompose easily. The plastic that is in the ocean will eventaully break down, but only into smaller pieces called microplastics. They will never fully go away which means they are still causing damage.
Microplastics end up inside fish, and in turn then end up inside humans due to the consumption of sealife. Some plastics absorb chemicals in the seawater, and these have been linked to cancer.
70% of our oxygen comes from marine plants, so by damaging marine life we are also reducing the amount of oxygen we breathe.
In the North Atlantic ocean, there is an island of plastic that has clumped together. The island measures hundreds of kilometers across. However this is only 1% of plastic that is found in the ocean. Most that is dumped here sinks to the ocean floor and so retrieval is not feasible. Similarly, most of the plastic that is found in the ocean is microplastics, almost invisible plastic particles. Retreiving these would be impossible.
There are even plastic particles embedded in the Arctic ice.
Without an action, there could be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050.
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