FairPlanet.Support
| tags: | #plastic pollution, #microfibres, #microbeads, #microplastic particles, #recycling, #plastic production |
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| by: | Deniz Zehra Tavli |
Plastics are choking marine life, our waterways, and our bodies. The latest study shows that since large-scale plastic production began in the 1950s, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced. Plastics take hundreds of years to biodegrade, and only a small percentage is recycled.
Each year more than 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans, and microplastics -- including microbeads and microfibers -- present the biggest challenge. There are 51 trillion microplastic particles suspended in our seas. That's 500 times more than the number of stars in our galaxy. If current trends continue, researchers predict over 13 billion tons of plastic will be discarded in landfills or in the environment by 2050. In fact, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. We’ve seen pictures of marine life suffocating from plastic—100,000 marine mammals and one million seabirds are killed from plastic in the ocean every year.
The only way to stop global plastic ocean pollution is at the source. The online movement "Story of Stuff", founded by the Executive Director of Greenpeace USA Annie Leonard, demands that companies take back the waste they make. They push for a strong regulation of fossil-fueled plastics production.
Support the "Story of Stuff" movement and sign their petition to stop the global plastic pollution!
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