27 Shocking Facts About Our Plastic Waste War

The Plastic Waste War – Annual production has skyrocketed since the early 1950s, reaching 322 million tonnes in 2015. This does not include synthetic fibers used in clothing, rope, and other products which accounted for 61 million tonnes in 2016.

Immediate Plastic Danger Ahead!

Therefore, It is expected that plastic production will continue to increase, likely doubling by 2025. In addition, Climate change rapidly, the ocean temperature is rising, our global ecosystem is out of balance.

Industrial Spills

Two-thirds of it comes straight from land-based sources: litter being left on the beach or washed down rivers and drains from litter being dropped in towns and cities.

It comes from industry spills, badly managed landfill sites, and bins near the coast or by being flushed down the loo. The remainder is lost at sea such as containers going overboard or lost fishing gear.

51,000,000,000,000!!!

Approximately 51 trillion microscopic pieces of plastic, weighing 269,000 tons. That is about the same as 1345 adult blue whales. And 500 times the number of stars in our galaxy. I know which I would rather see.

Moreover, 5,000 items of marine plastic pollution have been found per mile of beach in the UK. Also, Over 150 plastic bottles litter each mile of UK beaches.

Ocean Life In Danger

100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually. Moreover, recent studies have revealed marine plastic pollution in 100% of marine turtles, 59% of whales, 36% of seals, and 40% of seabird species examined. In addition, these species in danger of becoming extinct.

It’s plastic where it shouldn’t be. It’s in the sea and on the beach and it’s causing harm. We’re using more plastic than ever, it’s durable, cheap to produce and we’re consuming it at staggering rates. Current estimates show that at last 8 million pieces of plastic are entering the oceans every single day.

Marine Wildlife Breakfast

For wildlife such as fish, dolphins, seabirds, and seals it can be deadly as they become entangled or mistake it for food. Images from the Midway Atoll have illustrated this problem to shocking effect when photographer Chris Jordan captured the remains of albatross, stomachs full of plastic pieces because they accidentally made a meal from our discarded waste.

Additionally, Experts had to put the animal down as it was in such poor condition and the autopsy showed a terrifying 30 plastic bags and a large amount of plastic packaging with labels in Danish and English in its stomach and intestines, causing blockages and pain. Therefore, More recently a Cuvier’s beaked whale was found malnourished and dying off the coast of Norway.

Whirlpool of Ocean

In the North Pacific, a gyre or slowly swirling whirlpool of ocean currents collects plastic debris. It is estimated to be twice the size of France and Charles Moore, the oceanographer who discovered it has predicted that it will double in size in the next 10 years if we don’t change our ways.

Moreover, It is not exactly a nice neat island that we can tidy away, it’s more like a ginormous plastic soup made of confetti-like fragments of plastic. It has been imagined that it would take 67 ships 1 year to clean up less than 1% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Toxins & CO.

Low-income communities face more health impacts near plastic production sites, have greater exposure to toxins and waste, and bear the brunt of the impacts of improper plastic disposal and incineration. In addition, oil also affecting the global ecosystem

Also, only about 9% of this plastic has been recycled, 12% has been burned and the remaining 79% has ended up in landfills or the environment.

Export After Shock

Countries like Canada, the U.S., and the UK export plastic waste to various countries in Asia and Africa, offloading their trash problem to other communities. Moreover, while clean up efforts help reduce litter problems, they do not address the source of the problem and ignore the unseen plastic pollution – microplastics.

As we know, plastic is strong, flexible, and durable making it extremely useful. However, that also means it never really breaks down. A plastic bottle can last for 450 years in the marine environment, slowly fragmenting into smaller and smaller pieces which eventually end up microscopic but never truly go away. This means that every piece of plastic that has ever been produced is still with us, in some form.

Truth About Bio

Moreover, Bioplastic is not as green as they seem to be, approach with caution. Though companies often market them under the same umbrella. In addition, check these shocking proofs of human VS nature.

In addition, a product is not necessarily biodegradable and may require very specific conditions to break down. They also do not solve the litter or throwaway culture problem.

The Devil Bright Side

Plastic isn’t all bad! It can be incredibly useful. For example, diabetics use it for their disposable syringes, arthritic patients have it for their replaced hips, and construction workers wear it to protect their heads. Moreover, we wouldn’t have computers, mobile phones or cars. Essentially, it is vital.

However, the big problem is single-use plastics and the quantities in which they are used. For instance, a plastic bag is used on average for 15 minutes, yet it could take 100 – 300 years to fragment.

Wall st. Effects

Well-known coffee company Starbucks produces 4 billion coffee cups each year. Tens of billions of bags of chips are sold each year by companies like Pepsi Co. Altogether, Drink companies alone produce over 500 billion single-use plastic bottles annually.

In addition, Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. Moreover, scientists have recently discovered micro-plastics embedded deep in the Arctic ice.

Micro Problems…

Plastic pollution can now be found on every beach in the world, from busy tourist beaches to uninhabited, tropical islands nowhere are safe. There may now be around 5.25 trillion macro and micro-plastic pieces floating in the open ocean. Weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.

So, Up to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans every year. Plastics consistently make up 60 to 90% of all marine debris studied.

400 X Earth

There are 5 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans. It’s enough to circle the Earth over 400 times. The equivalent of a truckload of plastic enters the oceans every minute.

However, Incineration creates other pollution and does not address the overproduction problem. Focusing on the end of life like recycling or disposal – we can’t recycle our way out of this crisis.

Plastic Waste War – PCBs & DDTs

With 1 in 3 fish caught for human consumption now containing plastic, the question is no longer are we eating plastic but how bad for us is that?

In seawater plastic absorbs chemicals like PCBs & DDTs which have been linked to endocrine disruption and even some cancers, becoming more powerful as they work their way up the food chain.

£5,000,000,000

In addition, The beach is where we go to connect with nature and put simply, it’s not the same if it’s covered in plastic. Some of us rely on it being clean for our livelihoods with coastal tourism being worth £5.5 billion to the UK economy.

Moreover, Even if we don’t eat fish, or even go to the beach, all of us without a doubt, breathe! And all that delicious oxygen? 70% of it is produced by marine plants, so we need to take care of it!

Exponential Growth

In 1950, the world’s population of 2.5 billion produced 1.5 million tons of plastic; in 2016, a global population of more than 7 billion people produced over 320 million tons of plastic. This is set to double by 2034.

About 8.3 billion tonnes of Plastic Waste War has been produced since the 1950s – the weight of roughly a billion elephants or 47 million blue whales.

Rivers Symptom

People living along rivers and coastlines in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam are the most impacted by plastic pollution. Moreover, Henderson Island in the South Pacific is the most plastic polluted of any island recorded to date.

Rolling (Plastic) Stones

We can’t scoop it all out of the sea! For a start, only 1% of marine litter floats, with the vast majority sinking to the seafloor. Even if we tried to ‘scoop’ up that 1%, in international waters who would pay for it? To further complicate matters, the majority of it is microscopic.

In addition, there is no ‘away’ because even if miraculously we managed to get all of these pieces, most smaller than a grain of rice out of the sea, what would we do with it then? All we can do is stop using more.

In conclusion, this plastic waste war Need Our attention & we must wake up.