Over 171 trillion plastic particles are already poisoning our planet's oceans.
These estimates are based on surface water data between 1979 and 2019 that was gathered from nearly 12,000 stations across the world.
Rather than general plastic waste, the researchers focused specifically on microplastics. These fine particles, while vastly outweighed by the, are just as dangerous to ocean life since they can be easily ingested, and are almost as inescapable in ocean water now as salt. But microplastics don't need to be ingested to be harmful. They can just as easily seep toxic chemicals into the surrounding water, too.Ominously, based on the woefully inadequate current rates of recycling paired with an increase in plastic production, the study predicts that the rate of plastic pollution entering the ocean will increase by about 2.6 times by 2040, highlighting the lack of meaningful, urgent action being undertaken to combat the problem.
In other words, humanity will have to start getting real about limiting the amount of plastic we produce — and, most of the time, end up wasting. "Cleanup is futile if we continue to produce plastic at the current rate, and we have heard about recycling for too long while the plastic industry simultaneously rejects any commitments to buy recycled material or design for recyclability," said study author Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of 5 Gyres,
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