Ocean contains 5 trillion pieces of plastic

[UM-Bot]

The world's oceans have become a dumping ground for almost 270,000 tons of waste plastics.

With plastic bottles, fishing line and other items of rubbish becoming a common sight on beaches all over the world, scientists have been attempting to ascertain exactly how much waste material there really is in the sea and what impact it might be having on both the ocean's wildlife and on ourselves.

Read More: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/275664/ocean-contains-5-trillion-pieces-of-plastic

[Junior Chubb]

With all the talk of carbon emissions and other pollutants the growth of the amount of plastic floating around in the Ocean is often overlooked as well as the harm it can cause.

It will get a lot worse before (if it ever) gets better...

[Sir Smoke aLot]

Humans will soon be drowning in their own garbage, if that is not case already. There are piles of garbage which are floating oceans, big as islands and i see that there is no desire to solve this problem. Let's have wars and make profits, who care about some pollution..

[Dark_Grey]

We don't deserve this planet. We're like children in so many ways.

[freetoroam]

Not to worry, the radiation we have put into the oceans should melt some of that plastic.

Over the past half-century, the world has seen its share of incidents in which radioactive material has been dumped or discharged into the oceans

http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushima-radioactivity-in-the-pacific-ocean-diluted-but-far-from-harmless/5360752

5.25 trillion wow! would not have liked the job of counting that lot.

[maximusnow]

We need to start over!

[freetoroam]

We need to start over!

Huh, and make more mess?

We need to clean up first.

[xYlvax]

I am so ashamed of us..

[spud the mackem]

Its not only the Oceans but also the rivers and Canals of England, I always try and fish out any I see to dump in a waste skip later, but I must admit that I'm guilty of binning empty bottles of beer into the Atlantic years ago.Seamen used to say that there was a mountain range of binned crockery, bottles, and cans right across the Atlantic from the big Passenger ships of years ago.

[freetoroam]

Its not only the Oceans but also the rivers and Canals of England, I always try and fish out any I see to dump in a waste skip later, but I must admit that I'm guilty of binning empty bottles of beer into the Atlantic years ago.Seamen used to say that there was a mountain range of binned crockery, bottles, and cans right across the Atlantic from the big Passenger ships of years ago.

I know this one well. Plastics as well as mattresses and shopping trolleys!!!

[Sakari]

And how many will still drink and throw away plastic water bottles after reading this?

[CrimsonKing]

And how many will still drink and throw away plastic water bottles after reading this?

Not this guy...I always filter my own water and reuse bpa free bottles

[SHaYap]

Well one thing I can say is , I hope no one suggests a recount ~

[ancient astronaut]

I am completely disgusted by this. We (Mankind) talk a good game about taking care of our world, but actually do very little to actually follow through on it.

[Bavarian Raven]

I clean the garbage on my street every ten days or so (2 km or so of street). I usually get between ten and fifteen pounds of garbage. About half is compost stuff (apple cores, orange peels, wet newspapers etc) and another quarter or so is plastic. I usually get between 100-150 cigarette butts too :/

Frankly it's disgusting to be honest.

I wonder if it's even possible to clean the worst of this mess up?

[freetoroam]

I am completely disgusted by this. We (Mankind) talk a good game about taking care of our world, but actually do very little to actually follow through on it.

Those who are polluting on a mass scale like that in the oceans are the big companies who are making the big money. The little mans waste can be dealt with, but when you have the likes of BP , radiation companies and governments doing tests, then we are talking something entirely different....funny thing is, its these governments and big bucks companies who are telling us to stop "littering".

[ancient astronaut]

Those who are polluting on a mass scale like that in the oceans are the big companies who are making the big money. The little mans waste can be dealt with, but when you have the likes of BP , radiation companies and governments doing tests, then we are talking something entirely different....funny thing is, its these governments and big bucks companies who are telling us to stop "littering".

I agree. Regulation of these companies can be achieved. Enforcement is a whole other animal.

[paperdyer]

I always try to recycle plastic bottles. When I travel in my own car, I have a recycle bin in the baack in case I can't recycle where I'm going.

[Junior Chubb]

Those who are polluting on a mass scale like that in the oceans are the big companies who are making the big money. The little mans waste can be dealt with, but when you have the likes of BP , radiation companies and governments doing tests, then we are talking something entirely different....funny thing is, its these governments and big bucks companies who are telling us to stop "littering".

You are right about 'the big guys' but a lot of the plastic in the sea is the 'little mans' waste, there are 7 billion little men out there and far more of them chuck their plastic away instead of recycling it... Think of those large communities living along rivers and coastlines who see the water as a giant dump, out of sight out of mind.

I see this being caused by the billions of 'little men' just as much as the waste produced by mass industry. This is litter on a grande scale.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Junior Chubb

[rashore]

And how many will still drink and throw away plastic water bottles after reading this?

Heh, I don't do bottled water. Why should I pay for water out of someone else's spigot when I can get water out of my own for free? I have a handful of sports bottles for reuse I mean really, unless your water is really polluted, bottled water is a scam and a half. And even if you are not fond of your spigot water, there's water filtration of all sorts for home use.

I recycle my other miscellaneous bottles and jugs too- they are worth money in some states We rarely drink soda in my home. I also recycle my milk jugs and juice bottles for wintersowing containers. All my butter tubs, sour cream tubs, and so on get recycled to pots for growing seeds too. Plastic jars from herbs, seasonings, and stuff like mayo gets recycled to hold dehydrated goods in the pantry, and gifts of homemade seasonings, cookies, and the like for others. Plastic trays like what meat and some produce comes in gets recycled into trays for under seed pots. I purposely get lunchmeats (when I get them) in containers instead of throw away bags- and I reuse those for tupperware.

Even plastic bags around here see more than one life- either they are used again as kitty litter garbage bags, or I cut them into strips to braid into super durable garden twine or I heat press the stuff into "plastic fabric" for homemade tarp material. Plastic mesh bags like what onions come in get recycled into dish scrubbers.

With all this stuff... I figure why pay for pots for plants, or scrubbers, or matching jars for gifts when I can just recycle the stuff. I already paid for that packaging, why throw it out and pay for other things that work as well or less so than the stuff I threw out?

Edited December 11, 2014 by rashore

[Winter Summer]

A drawing showing how long things take to decompose in the sea.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Winter Summer

[Atuke]

Half of it is Walmart plastic bags. I've seen it personally since I used to work on the sea. It's unbelievable how much trash is in the ocean. Humans, for "supposedly" being the most intelligent, are also the rudest, vial, greedy, and indecent creatures by far on the planet. We are pond scum and generally a virus to this planet. A random gamma ray or asteroid might sterilize the planet of the human virus before we doom ourselves. That's the mystery...which way will we die out first. It's coming.

And whyyyyy???? Whyyy put a small item such as a "bag" of dog food into "another" bag to carry it out of the store. Wtfffffffffff

Edited December 11, 2014 by Atuke

[spud the mackem]

I know this one well. Plastics as well as mattresses and shopping trolleys!!!

I've had a black plastic bin bag wrapped around the propeller twice now, and the water is bloody cold.

[bmk1245]

[...] Plastic mesh bags like what onions come in get recycled into dish scrubbers.

[...]

As always - stick has two ends... Lets say, you are the worker at dish scrubber factory... You get my gist, I suppose...

[Likely Guy]

5.25 trillion wow! would not have liked the job of counting that lot.

If I would have bothered to count it, I would have picked it up.