Plastic In The Ocean Facts Bbc

Plastic is an amazing man made material it s cheap to produce and has many uses.

Plastic in the ocean facts bbc.

To enjoy the cbbc newsround website at its. Shocking ocean plastic statistics. Scientists are very worried about plastic that ends up in the ocean. Mark series produced ocean giants a three part series on whales and dolphins and produced two intrepid episodes for south wild pacific.

All animals whether they live on land or in the sea can be hurt by plastic. More than 1 million seabirds and 100 000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year. In 2014 or 315 bottles per person. Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.

Find out lots of facts about plastic in the ocean. A vast ocean sieving expedition across the atlantic has revealed that there is as much as 21 million tonnes of plastic particles in the ocean much higher than estimated. 100 of baby sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs. Plastic rubbish doesn t biodegrade.

Test your knowledge in the plastics pollution quiz. Experts think that by 2050 the amount of plastic in the ocean will weigh more than the amount of fish in the ocean. According to the container recycling institute 100 7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the u s. The old fashioned metal boxes that have been dragged around the ocean since 1931 have accidentally created a record of the history of ocean plastic.

There is now 5 25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean 46 000 pieces in every square mile of ocean weighing up to 269 000 tonnes. Never miss a moment. Bbc earth delivered direct to your inbox. But half of the plastic we produce is designed to be used just once and then thrown away and even plastic that can be reused or recycled gets chucked out too.

Sign up for hand selected playlists topical articles and the very best from the bbc earth community. Plastic rubbish can be incredibly harmful to fish and other sea life. The facts about plastic pollution. Do you know your microplastics from your single use.

As producer on the original planet earth for bbc and discovery mark oversaw its two underwater episodes shallow seas and freshwater. It can stay in the ocean for thousands of years if it isn t recycled. Your email country. Much of our unwanted plastic ends up in the ocean around 8 million tonnes of it every year in fact.

All the bbc s news on plastic pollution it is estimated debris takes about six years to reach the centre of the north pacific gyre from the coast of the us and about a year from japan. Article share tools facebook.