PLASTIC AND OUR PLANET
Human activities are changing the ocean's chemistry, destroying habitats, and killing marine life.
Plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our beaches is a global crisis. Approximately 9 million tons of plastic enter our oceans ever year. This impacts our ocean life as well as nearly 4 billion people who depend on the ocean as their primary source of food.
Plastic garbage now infests every ocean on earth, posing a threat to marine life. Hundreds of species of seabirds, whales, sea turtles, and other marine life ingest or get entangled in plastic, and scientists say the number is rising along with the amount of marine trash.
It is believed that 90% of all litter floating in the ocean is made up of plastic.
Plastic is so durable that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports “every bit of plastic ever made still exists.
Of the world's plastics 9 percent is recycled, 12 percent is incinerated and 79 percent accumulates in landfills.
It is estimated that 80% of garbage in the ocean comes from the land.
