{"id":109,"page_title":"Plastic in the Ocean","slug":"plastic-in-the-ocean","header":null,"title":"Tons of plastic waste dumped in oceans","subtitle":"Globally, this year","unit":"","focus":"year","region":"","icon":"https://img.icons8.com/ios-filled/100/000000/solidworks-plastics.png","kind":"point","position":null,"priority":false,"decimals":1,"body_title":null,"body":null,"image":null,"created_at":"2019-07-01T16:01:25.334Z","updated_at":"2021-05-31T19:47:13.852Z","contents":[{"type":"illustration","illustration":{"body":"One garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans every single minute. By 2030, it will be two trucks per minute and by 2050, four. At this point, there could be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans","data":{"chart":[],"options":{}},"focus":"centered","title":"More plastic than fish in world’s oceans","width":"half","sources":[{"url":"https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/every-minute-one-garbage-truck-of-plastic-is-dumped-into-our-oceans/","reference":"WEF: Every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans"}],"category":"text","alignment":"center","chartName":"","highlight":"2050","body_align":"centered","focus_align":"centered","source_text":""}},{"text":"

Scientists blown away by waste data

Plastic wasn’t invented until the late 1800s and the production of plastic didn’t take off until around 1950. But then it really took off. The world has produced over 9 billion tons of plastic since then and TWO THIRDS have ended up in the environment - including our oceans. That’s about 6.3 billion tons - a number that stunned the scientists who discovered it.

The Earth coated in plastic

Humans have made enough plastic since the second World War to coat the Earth entirely in clingfilm

100 plastic bags filled with plastic. For every foot of coastline. In the world.

Between 60-80% of marine trash is plastic - 80% of which comes from land-based debris. Five grocery bags stuffed with plastic are added every year for every foot of coastline.

“Imagine five plastic grocery bags stuffed with plastic trash sitting on every foot of coastline around the world”

- Jenna Jambeck, professor of engineering, University of Georgia.

By 2025, there will be a mindblowing 100 bags of plastic per foot of coastline in the world!

A killer on a massive scale

Ocean plastic kills millions of 700 different marine animals every year. Including several endangered species.

Will ocean plastic degenerate?

Do you know how long it will take for the plastic in oceans to biodegrade completely?

Estimates range from 450 years to never.

Very disturbing effects

Organic chemical compounds used in plastic are known endocrine disruptors (meaning they mess with our hormones and reproductive systems). These include phthalates, bisphenol A and polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

The weight of the world population in plastic

The annual production of plastic of 450 million tons is close to the weight of the entire human population of the planet. The total amount of plastic produced could reach a staggering 30 billion tons by the end of the century.

Your weight in plastic - 40 times over

30 billion tons of plastic by the year 2100 would be over 40 times the weight of the entire human population that at this time will be more than 11 billion.

","type":"text","source":"

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/?beta=true#

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/24/plastic-new-epoch-human-damage

http://plastic-pollution.org/

http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-management-outlook

"},{"type":"illustration","illustration":{"body":"The amount of plastic is so staggering that some scientists consider it a marker for a new epoch: the Anthropocene (or the human age). Consider that for a moment: Our pollution of the Earth with plastic is defining our relationship with the planet. We can do better.","data":{"chart":[],"options":{}},"focus":"centered","title":"Plastic defining a new human epoch","width":"half","sources":[{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/24/plastic-new-epoch-human-damage ","reference":"The Guardian: Plastic now pollutes every corner of Earth"}],"category":"text","alignment":"center","chartName":"","highlight":"The Plastic Era","body_align":"centered","focus_align":"centered","source_text":""}},{"text":"

The weight of 800 billion plastic bottles

The plastic ending up in oceans every year is equivalent to the weight of 800 billion plastic bottles. Put on top of each other these bottles would reach further than the sun. But they are not going to the sun. They are in our oceans and will stay there.

Plastic soup

Ocean currents have created several gigantic “plastic soups” around the world. No-one knows the size of these, but they could cover up to 16 million km2, or the combined size of Europe, India and Mexico!

It could go completely wrong

The plastic soup has been growing 10 times in size every decade since the 1950s. If nothing is done now, this problem will spin completely out of control. In the North Pacific Gyre, marine samples show plastics outweigh plankton by 6:1.

The chemicals build up

Fish and shellfish contain toxic chemicals at concentrations as high as nine million times (!) those found in the water in which they swim.

What can we do?

Notice all the plastic around you, the plastic bags you use, and change to biodegradable alternatives. They exist! Currently, only about 9 percent of the 450 million tons of plastic produced every year is recycled. We can do better.

","type":"text","source":"

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/?beta=true#

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/19/the-world-has-made-more-than-9-billion-tons-of-plastic-says-new-study.html

"},{"id":105,"type":"counter"},{"type":"illustration","illustration":{"body":"","data":{"chart":[],"options":{}},"focus":"centered","title":"Check out the video for an overview of the Great Plastic Soup in the Pacific Ocean.","width":"half","sources":[],"category":"text","alignment":"center","chartName":"","highlight":"","body_align":"centered","focus_align":"centered","source_text":""}},{"id":5,"type":"video"}],"parent_id":null,"level":null,"children":[],"start_number":null,"end_number":12700000.0,"start_year":null,"end_year":null,"growth_rate":null,"static_text":null,"data_source_id":null,"source_text":"According to Greenpeace, 12.7 million tons of plastic end up in oceans each year. Of course, the exact number is impossible to know.","sources":[{"url":"https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/what-we-do/oceans/plastics/","reference":"Greenpeace: Plastics"}],"config":{"primaryCounters":[]},"route":"challenges/planet-earth/oceans/plastic-in-the-ocean","page":"challenges","section":"oceans","published":false}