Plastic Time Bomb

Look at any length of river and canal and you will find plenty of plastic in the water or strewn along the bankside. Plastic rubbish that has been discarded because we don't repect our environment. Once in the waterway it will eventually make its way into the ocean. Vast floating island of plastic are to be found in the seas and oceans. Yet in reality the discarded plastic  rubbish is just the tip of the iceberg. The vast floating islands of plastic  account foran estimated  5% of all the plastic waste that has been dumped, blown or washed into the sea.

  

The latest research published in the journal Science offers a more accurate estimate at the quantity of plastic waste entering the ocean. The research findings show that between 5 to 12m tonnes of plastics enter our ocean every year. This is on top of the 100,000,000 to 150,000,000 tonnes already in the ocean. 

However, the real worry is the missing plastic. We don’t know where all the plastic goes. We are aware that it never breaks down completly. Only, breaking down into smaller parts, almost invisible to the eye. We know that plastic in the ocean is confused as being food and eaten by many life forms. The plastic has caused the death of countless seabirds, turtles, and ocean mammals. The new Science study identifies where the plastic is coming from. It originates mainly in developing countries, with rapidly growing populations and emerging middle classes, which are consuming more and more plastic.