Plastic In The Ocean Facts Bbc

More than 1 million seabirds and 100 000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year.

Plastic in the ocean facts bbc.

Bbc earth delivered direct to your inbox. Plastic is an amazing man made material it s cheap to produce and has many uses. Mark series produced ocean giants a three part series on whales and dolphins and produced two intrepid episodes for south wild pacific. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes.

It can stay in the ocean for thousands of years if it isn t recycled. Find out lots of facts about plastic in the ocean. 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. To enjoy the cbbc newsround website at its.

Scientists are very worried about plastic that ends up in the ocean. Sign up for hand selected playlists topical articles and the very best from the bbc earth community. Plastic rubbish doesn t biodegrade. Experts think that by 2050 the amount of plastic in the ocean will weigh more than the amount of fish in the ocean.

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. 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. Test your knowledge in the plastics pollution quiz. A plastic bag has an average working life of 15 minutes.

Article share tools facebook. The facts about plastic pollution. Your email country. Do you know your microplastics from your single use.

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. According to the container recycling institute 100 7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the u s. 100 of baby sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs. 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.

Much of our unwanted plastic ends up in the ocean around 8 million tonnes of it every year in fact. As producer on the original planet earth for bbc and discovery mark oversaw its two underwater episodes shallow seas and freshwater. All animals whether they live on land or in the sea can be hurt by plastic. In 2014 or 315 bottles per person.

Plastic rubbish can be incredibly harmful to fish and other sea life. Never miss a moment.