Fact Sheet: Plastics in the Ocean

About 8 million tons of plastic is thrown into the sea every year [1]. Among them, 236 thousand tons is microplastic [2] - a piece of broken plastic smaller than your small nail

There are five huge plastics in the ocean all over the world. These huge plastic pieces cover the broad ocean, and the size between California and Hawaii is the size of Texas [3].

The plastic in the ocean has a depth of 11 kilometers. In other words, synthetic fibers can even pollute the most distant place on the earth [7].

Many marine organisms can not distinguish general plastic products from food. Animals eating plastics often die and starve as they can not digest plastics, it fills their stomach and prevents them eating real food.

After exposure to marine plastic, the possibility of coral disease increases from 4% to 89%. It also destroys coral hide and causes infections [9]. More than 25% of marine life is inhabited in coral reefs. [Ten]

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has more plastics than the natural bait on the sea. This means that creatures fed in this area are more likely to use plastics as their main ingredient. For example, a turtle captured in a fishery active in and around plaque can take up to 74% (dry weight) meal of marine plastic. [11]

Many fish consumed by humans, such as brown trout, Cisco, salmon, etc., are consuming plastic ultrafine fibers. [12]

Marine plastic size spectrum in GPGP (a) Plastic mass distribution between category (size) and type (color) within GPGP. Plastic H type includes hard plastic, plastic sheet and film, N type includes plastic wire, rope and fishing nets, P type is prefabricated plastic granules, and type F is made of expanded plastic. Whiskers are extended from lower estimates of each size class to higher estimates and estimates uncertainty of monitoring and modeling methods. (B) Measurement quality and numerical concentration of GPGP marine plastics. Points indicate average density, whiskers and darker colors indicate confidence intervals, light colors indicate fifth and 95th percentiles of the measured concentrations.

Plastic facts are shocking. According to the Maritime Protection Association of 2015, by 2025 the global oceans will include nearly 250 million tons of plastic. Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic flows out of the world economy into the ocean. China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam occupy more than half of marine plastic. These countries have struggled for a long time to cope with population growth, disorganized plastic consumption and waste management. Republic of 9003 or "Ecological Solid Waste Management Act" was enacted in 2001, but the Philippines is one of the countries where plastic waste is disposed of in the sea. Approximately 7 million tons of plastic waste and 500,000 marine conservation groups are produced in this country, which shows that several tons of plastic waste is leaking every year. About 8,600 tons of waste are generated every day in big cities of Manila where more than 12 million people live.