Most of the Plastic We Use Ends up in Our Oceans

Plastic has become an overwhelming problem for our oceans and it’s causing an incredible amount of environmental damage.

Take a look at these pictures …

The non-profit organization Ocean Conservancy has mobilized annual beach and coastal area clean-ups since 1986 … and plastics are their most collected waste.

But how do plastics get into the ocean?

Believe it or not, the plastic in our oceans almost always starts with our trash bins.

Research by McKinsey & Company shows that only 12% of the 260 million tons of annual plastic waste is reused or recycled … while the majority gets thrown into landfills, incinerated, or abandoned into different areas of the planet — mostly our oceans.

Rivers, wastewater, wind, rain, and floods are all big factors in directing plastic waste into our oceans.

People are now using over one million plastic bottles per minute and over one trillion plastic bags are trashed every year … which is overwhelming our garbage dumps and recycling plants.

The United Nations Environment Program says the oceans receive 13 million tons of plastic each year … and that amount can grow to 17.5 million tons a year by 2025.

The World Economic Forum predicts that we could have more plastic in our oceans than fish by 2050.

Great organizations like 4ocean, Lonely Whale, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, and Parley for the Oceans are doing great work to clean up and reuse plastics … but the problem is so big. 

The only real long-term solution is for everyone to reduce or stop using plastic entirely before we destroy all our oceans, marine life, wildlife, and the planet.

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Share this information with your family and loved ones so that they can encourage others to at least reduce the use of plastics. 

Have them watch this powerful video …

The director of this video, Amir Zakeri, created a masterclass for anyone in the Karmagawa and SaveTheReef community who would like to use film to influence others to do good. If you’re interested, here’s 50% off.  

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What do you think about the amount of plastic that is ending up in our oceans? Leave a comment below.