What is your greatest fear? What scares you the most?
Mine is to think about the world ending. There are many factors contributing to that but what scares me the most is the plastic-menace that could potentially bring an end to our world if the current affairs continue. So, in-line with the Halloween theme for today, I compiled some facts about plastic that will surely give you nightmares.
1. One million plastic bottles are sold every minute
1,000,000- This is a million and by the time you finish reading this paragraph, these many plastic bottles would have been sold. Drinks bottles are one of the most popular forms of plastic packaging which ends up as wastage. Sadly, less than 50% of these are recycled. Just 7% of the plastic bottles are transformed into new bottles.
2. Yearly plastic waste generated can encircle the earth four times
The amount of plastic packaging that is thrown away every single year is enough in length to circle the globe four times over. Every year, plastic waste increases at a rate of 9%.
3. 50% of plastic is SINGLE-USE PLASTIC
Half of the plastic that is destroying the ecosystem is created for single use. These mostly include plastic bottles, coffee cup lids, straws, and food packaging. With such a throwaway culture, only 5% of plastic is recovered from what is produced. Most of the plastics advertised as “BIODEGRADABLE/COMPOSTABLE PLASTICS” are a sham too.
4. 73% of beach litter worldwide is plastic
National Geographic says that 73% of all beach litter is plastic.The litter includes filters from cigarette butts, bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags, and polystyrene containers.
5. There will be 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste in landfills by 2050 Since the beginning of plastic production, it is estimated that at least 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced. 76% of this plastic produced has become plastic waste and almost 80% of this plastic waste has been put to a landfill or is in the natural environment, such as the oceans. With current production rates and continued mismanagement of plastic waste across the world, it is estimated there will be 12 billion tonnes or even more wasted plastic in a landfill by 2050. Does the earth have enough space for all of our plastic waste and do we have such time, with a single plastic bottle taking 500 years to biodegrade?
6. Plastic in the sea outnumbers marine animals by six to one
There is more plastic in the oceans than wildlife. It’s not supposed to be that way! How would we like if someone trashes our home for us to choke on it? For every animal in the ocean, there are six pieces of plastic. Furthermore, 90% of the pollution floating in the ocean is plastic which accounts for 46,000 pieces of plastic every single square mile.
7. More than One million seabirds and animals are killed every year from plastic
As plastic enters the food chain and can cause damage to birds, such as birds getting stuck in plastic can holders has resulted in one million seabirds being killed every year from plastic in the ocean. Furthermore, 100,000 marine mammals are killed per year as a result of plastic in the water. It is astonishing that due to the tiny fragments of plastic in the ocean, all sea turtle species and 44% (some statistics even say 90%) of seabird species have been found to have plastic in their system or around their bodies. This also includes 22% of cetaceans too.
And if you thought it’s only animals who have plastics inside their bodies, you will tremble on reading the next fact.
8. The average person eats 74,000 microplastics each year
A new study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology says it’s possible that humans may be consuming anywhere from 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles a year. With added estimates of how much microplastic might be inhaled, that number is more than 74,000. As if the issue of inhaling particulate matter from the air wasn’t enough!
9. 10 million tonnes of plastic end up in the sea every year
Ocean plastic has detrimental impacts on the environment and marine ecosystems. Plastic has entered the food chain with toxic plastic being found in birdlife as well as fish and sea mammals. From a study in the journal Science, they found that 192 coastal countries are adding to 10 million tonnes of plastic ending up in the sea each year. There are five gyres in which plastic waste accumulates in the ocean, these gyres have a much higher concentration of plastic than anywhere else in the ocean due to the circular currents.
Read on the next one to know more about this.
10. The ocean has a plastic mass that is the size of 4 Germanys combined Named the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, there is a floating plastic mass that is considered the largest ocean garbage site in the world. The mass is collated from the North Pacific Gyre which is a circular tide that brings pollution together into one big mass of garbage. So far, it has reached enormous size and is already about 1.6 sq km.
11. 90% of plastic polluting our oceans is carried by just 10 rivers
Just 10 rivers across Asia and Africa carry 90% of the plastic that ends up in the oceans, says the World Economic Forum. The study states that eight of these rivers are in Asia: the Yangtze, Indus, Yellow, Hai He, Ganges, Pearl, Amur, and the Mekong. Two of the rivers can be found in Africa: the Nile and the Niger. All the rivers named have two things in common: high population living in the area, and poor waste management system. Also, don’t we Indians consider river Ganges as Holy?
12. Half of the world’s plastics are produced in Asia
China contributes to almost 30% of plastic manufactured in the world.
13. Less than 5% of plastic produced globally is actually recycled
Even though Europe claims to have the highest plastic waste recycling rates (30%), they sent their waste to Asian countries to recycle. With Asian countries refusing to recycle and returning waste for western countries, this percentage has begun to dwindle.
14. The average time that a plastic bag is used for is … 12 minutes
Yes, that’s right — they’re used for an average of 12 minutes and then take up to a thousand years to decompose.
15. Plastic has reached even the Arctic!
Scientists have recently discovered microplastics embedded deep in the Arctic ice.
If this doesn’t scare you, then I don’t know what will.
Also, Happy Halloween guys!
iamgreenified 