Plastic In The Ocean Facts Bbc

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.

Plastic in the ocean facts bbc.

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. As producer on the original planet earth for bbc and discovery mark oversaw its two underwater episodes shallow seas and freshwater. The facts about plastic pollution. In 2014 or 315 bottles per person.

100 of baby sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs. Plastic rubbish doesn t biodegrade. All animals whether they live on land or in the sea can be hurt by plastic. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes.

And as they take a long time to degrade. To enjoy the cbbc newsround website at its. 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.

Do you know your microplastics from your single use. Sign up for hand selected playlists topical articles and the very best from the bbc earth community. 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. Scientists are very worried about plastic that ends up in the ocean.

Article share tools facebook. A plastic bag has an average working life of 15 minutes. Mark series produced ocean giants a three part series on whales and dolphins and produced two intrepid episodes for south wild pacific. More than 1 million seabirds and 100 000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year.

It can stay in the ocean for thousands of years if it isn t recycled. According to the container recycling institute 100 7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the u s. Much of our unwanted plastic ends up in the ocean around 8 million tonnes of it every year in fact. Test your knowledge in the plastics pollution quiz.

Your email country. Bbc earth delivered direct to your inbox. Plastic is an amazing man made material it s cheap to produce and has many uses. 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.

Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century. Plastic rubbish can be incredibly harmful to fish and other sea life.