Plastic pollution is currently one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues. Disposable plastic products are creating a massive waste stream that ends up in our environment, damaging ecosystems and habitats and endangering animals. The plastic pollution problem is huge and growing worse. Consider that:
According to the
EPA, plastic trash has the greatest potential to harm the environment, wildlife and humans. The EPA noted that “it has been estimated that plastic marine debris adversely affects at least 267 species globally, including 86% of sea turtles, 44% of seabirds, and 43% of marine mammals. The most common threats to wildlife include both physical hazards from ingestion and entanglement, and toxicological threats from ingestion of contaminants attached to and trapped within plastic particles.”
The New York Times recently
reported on a study which revealed that 9.25 million to 15.87 million tons of microplastics — pieces of plastic waste that measure less than five millimeters long — are embedded on the sea floor. According to the article, that’s “the equivalent of 18 to 24 shopping bags full of small plastic fragments for every foot of coastline on every continent except for Antarctica.”