Plastic pollution dumps 17.6 billion pounds into our oceans yearly, breaking into microplastics that enter our food, water, and air. Only 9% of plastic ever gets recycled — but plastic-free laws and consumer choices are already proving we can reverse course.
Our ocean sustained life. An abundant ocean can feed a billion people a healthy meal every day forever. But now they are being filled, killed by throwaway plastics. The equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is dumped in a sea every minute. 17.6 billion pounds every year. Plastic is everywhere in our ocean. Floating on the surface, mixing in the salt water and sitting on the ocean bottom, miles and miles deep. And once in the ocean it never goes away. Over hundreds of years it breaks down into small pieces. But those pieces, even the tiny ones called microplastics, are still plastic. Sea turtles are choking on them. Scientists say that over 60% of whale and dolphin species are affected by it. It's all plankton. The base of the ocean food chain, either. And so do we. It's in the water we drink. It's in our food. Microplastics have been found in our salt, our honey, and our beer. And sometimes even in the air we breathe. Companies are choosing to make something that will be used just once from the material that lasts forever. If you don't like put throwaway plastics or already doing to our world, brace yourself. We face a tsunami of throwaway plastic in our and the oceans future. Sometimes more plastic will be produced between now and the middle of the century, then has been produced in all of history. Four times more. What can we do? Recycling of all the plastic ever generated as of 2015, only 9% was recycled. Even when it is recycled, plastic degrades. Your plastic soda bottle maybe becomes a shampoo bottle. Then a form hat. Even in the best case, it doesn't recycle. It downcycles. And then it becomes pollution. That ruins our beaches and jokes see animals forever. We should not be forced to pollute the ocean every time we eat, drink or go shopping. We need to be given the choice. A plastic free choice. This is not hard to imagine. Indeed, some responsible companies are already leading the way. There are throwaway plastic free aisles in supermarkets. Beverage companies. Already offer plastic free soda and salsa water. Restaurants offer plastic free service. There are plastic free rooms and hotels. An airline is now offering a plastic free flight. And Oceana and our allies are winning plastic free victories. Following campaigning by Oceana, Peru passed the law that keeps plastic out of national parks and beaches. Belieze is getting rid of Styrofoam. And the European Union has mandated reductions for throwaway plastics throughout its 28 member countries. But with your help, we can do more. Together, we can create a movement to reduce throwaway plastic. We can make sure we're all given real plastic free choices. We can help our cities, towns, schools and workplaces establish zones that are free of throwaway plastic. Let's stop plastic pollution from wrecking our beaches and our oceans. And have healthy oceans that delight the sustainings for generations to come. Please join our campaign. Go to Oceana.org slash plastics. Today.