What is plastic pollution?
Plastic pollution is when the earth, especially oceans and beaches, gets contaminated with plastic. Around 8 million pieces of plastic are released into the sea every day. Most of it is from litter being left on the beach. Some of it is from fishing gear or shipping containers that have gone overboard.
How much plastic is there?
Take a moment to look around you. Try and find as many things as possible that are made of plastic.
Plastic is used in phones, computers, cars and furniture. We use plastic shopping bags, plastic straws, plastic water bottles and plastic school materials. It’s even in our clothes!
Some of this plastic gets recycled but a large amount of it ends up dumped in huge landfills or in the ocean.
We have more plastic on Earth than stars in the galaxy!
How long does plastic last?
Plastic is a very strong and flexible material, it never breaks down completely, it just breaks up into smaller pieces. A plastic bottle that is floating in the sea can take over 400 years to break into tiny pieces!
Did you know?
- We have produced more plastic in the past 10 years than we have in the past 100 years.
- Enough plastic is thrown away each year to go around the Earth 4 times.
