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How to Stop Plastic Pollution?

Plastic is cheap and versatile but becoming an environmental issue. We produce over 300 million tons of plastic every year. 50 % of which is for single-use purposes. Plastic pollution is everywhere. We could find it in the deepest ocean trenches to the arctic ice sheets. Over 90 % of all seabirds have plastic pieces in their stomachs.

seabird

According to plasticoceans.org 8 million tons of plastics end up in our oceans each year. When our children look upon the plastic polluting our ecosystem they won’t ask why we didn’t recycle more.

rubbish in oceans

They will ask why products taking minutes to consume were produced in packaging that lasted for centuries. We don’t know precisely how long it will take plastic to degrade. Plastic bottles, bags, and plastic junk gradually break into smaller and smaller pieces known as microplastic which damaged the ecosystem.

We must take action!

Step 1

We must stop plastic waste from entering our waterways as soon as possible. Most of the plastic that ends up in the ocean does so because of poor waste management- particularly in low to middle-income countries.

Step 2

 We have to focus on recapturing and removing plastic already in our offshore waters and shorelines. The Ocean Cleanup aim is to clean up 90 % of floating plastic in the ocean.


Sources:

Greenpeace

Plastic oceans

Our World in Data

Image source

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