Single Use Plastics In The Ocean

Plastic is a truly extraordinary substance with many useful applications but it does not make sense to produce it for just a single use when it is so long lived persistent and toxic in the wrong environment.

Single use plastics in the ocean.

Plastics and polystyrene foam styrofoam comprise 90 of all marine debris with single use food and beverage containers being one of the most common items found in ocean and coastal surveys. Many plastic products are single use items that are designed to be thrown out like water bottles or take out containers. Places around the world like the u k taiwan seattle san francisco montreal and vancouver are joining the. This is expected to increase to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050.

May 5 2020 by katie wells reading time. Single use plastics are in the spotlight as more and more people opt to reduce them. 30 year records of deep sea plastic debris also reveals that single use plastic has reached the world s deepest ocean trench a plastic bag was found in the mariana trench 10 898m below the surface. These are used and discarded quickly.

If this waste isn t properly disposed of or managed it can end up in the ocean. Plastic is a valuable resource in many ways but plastic pollution is an unnecessary and unsustainable waste of that resource. Plastic in the ocean. How we can all reduce single use plastics january 5 2019 updated.

A full 32 of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced annually is left to flow into our oceans. Single use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware such as bottles wrappers straws and bags. Today single use plastics account for 40 percent of the plastic produced every year. More than one million bags are used every minute.

And ireland as well as starbucks whose plan to go plastic straw free by 2020 will save one billion straws per year. Single use plastic pollution the majority of marine waste. Packaging is the largest end use market segment accounting for just over 40 of total plastic usage. The equivalent of pouring one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute.

Disposable plastic shopping bags take around 20 years to break down in the ocean leaving chemicals and toxic. The study human footprint in the abyss. The conveniences plastics offer however led to a throw away culture that reveals the material s dark side. Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide.

This even includes businesses like hyatt hotels and mcdonalds in the u k. Single use plastics frequently do not make it to a landfill or are recycled.