Plastic Pollution Reaching Alarming Levels in Worlds Oceans

Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans has reached alarming levels and is expected to continue increasing if there is not a concerted effort to prevent this waste from entering the oceans, according to a review of hundreds of academic studies.

WWF commissioned the Alfred Wegener Institute from Germany to review almost 2,600 research papers on the topic in advance of a United Nations meeting later this month.

Researchers found said they found plastic pollution in the deepest ocean trenches, on the sea surface and in Arctic sea ice, according to Melanie Bergmann, who co-authored the study released Tuesday.

It found that some regions, such as the Mediterranean, East China and Yellow Seas, already contain high levels of plastic pollution while others are at risk of becoming polluted further in the future.

As a result of plastic pollution, almost every species in the ocean has been affected and it’s damaging important ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves.

When plastic degrades into ever-smaller pieces, it also passes through the marine food chain, eaten by everything from whales to turtles to plankton.

Bergmann said it’s virtually impossible to remove plastic from the water again, so policymakers should focus on preventing plastic from entering the oceans in the first place.

She said that some studies have shown that even if this were to happen today, the amount of marine microplastic would keep increasing for decades to come.

Plastic pollution has a global impact

Matt MacLeod, a professor of environmental science at Stockholm University who was not involved in the report, said it seemed to be a solid review of existing studies tackling the issue of plastic pollution.

The question (and argument) will be whether there is enough evidence to justify aggressive action (such as the one advocated in this report) that will disrupt current practices for plastic production, use, and disposal,” he said.

MacLeod was also involved in a separate study recently that concluded urgent measures were needed due to global impact concerns.

The WWF’s Heike Vesper said consumers can help reduce plastic pollution by changing their behaviour, but governments have to do the same by sharing the burden of solving the problem.

“It is imperative that we create a good policy framework,” she said, referring to the upcoming U.N. Environmental meeting in Nairobi. “This is an international problem and it requires global solutions.”

10 Countries Producing The Most Plastic Waste

Our world is currently facing a major issue with plastic waste. Among the most important environmental and ethical issues of our time, it is a critical concern of the younger generations.

Our world is filling up with single-use plastics, including food wrappers, plastic bags, and beverage bottles, and they can’t be broken down quickly enough.

The United States is the country that produces the most waste. The United Kingdom is second. The United States produces 105 kg of waste per capita per year, while the United Kingdom produces 98.66 kg per capita per year.

Plastic waste is thrown out at an extreme level every year, as these numbers show. The big problem is that all this plastic, which generally has a long shelf life, is piled up in garbage dumps and accumulates in the world’s oceans, causing a bigger and bigger waste problem worldwide.