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Plastic Pollution

Plastic pollution is a major global problem, as over 8 billion metric tons of plastic waste has been produced since 1950. Most plastic ends up in landfills or oceans, where it takes hundreds of years to break down. In the oceans, plastic breaks into microplastics that are consumed by marine life and enter the human food chain. By 2050, there will likely be more plastic in oceans than fish. Microplastics are toxic and pose threats to both marine ecosystems and human health. Urgent action is needed to reduce single-use plastics and increase recycling and reuse to curb the plastic pollution crisis.

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278 views1 page

Plastic Pollution

Plastic pollution is a major global problem, as over 8 billion metric tons of plastic waste has been produced since 1950. Most plastic ends up in landfills or oceans, where it takes hundreds of years to break down. In the oceans, plastic breaks into microplastics that are consumed by marine life and enter the human food chain. By 2050, there will likely be more plastic in oceans than fish. Microplastics are toxic and pose threats to both marine ecosystems and human health. Urgent action is needed to reduce single-use plastics and increase recycling and reuse to curb the plastic pollution crisis.

Uploaded by

api-457245228
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Plastic Pollution

HOW HUMANS ARE TURNING THE WORLD


INTO PLASTIC

What Happens to Since 1950, we have


produced 8.3 billion
Plastic After it is metric tons of plastic
Disposed of? waste globally.
(CBS News, 2018)

12% burned
Plastic Appeal
- Durable polymers
9% recycled - Lightweight
- Moldeable
The rest ends up in landfills or oceans. In - Flexible
landfills, when plastic is mixed with rain - High tensile strength
water, it produces a toxic runoff called - Cheap to produce
leachate, which poisons water in our (UN Environment, 2018)

ecosystems and harms marine life.


(Bryce, 2015)
(UN Environment, 2018)

Plastic Degradation
- Plastic takes between 400 and 1000 years
to break down in landfills. (UN environment, 2018)
- In the ocean, floating plastic undergoes
a process called photodegradation,
where heat from the sun breaks down
the plastic into smaller forms (<5mm in
Effects on
length) called microplastics.
(Moharir, R. V., & Kumar, S. , 2019) Marine Life

- 5-12 million metric tons of


Effects on plastic end up in the oceans each
Human Health year.
Microplastics travel up the food - Microplastics are easier for
chain, ending up in the fish on marine life to consume because
our plates. Plastic has also been they are so small. Plastic makes
found in tap water, beer, and sea sea creatures feel full when they
salt. This poses a threat to human are not, leading to starvation.
health, as these microplastics are - By 2050, it is projected there
toxic. (UN Environment, 2018) will be more plastic in the ocean
than fish. (CBS News, 2018)

WAYS TO HELP
1. REFUSE SINGLE USE 2. BUY A REUSABLE 3. SPREAD
PLASTICS GROCERY BAG AWARENESS
- Pros: Helps an individual - Pros: Limits waste from - Pros: Educating friends
reduce their habit of using plastic bags. and family on sustainable
plastic for sake of convenience. -Cons: A reusable cotton living through social
-Cons: Critics argue this does bag would have to be used media can help inspire
little to effectively curb plastic 7,100 times to have less of change.
waste in the long run. an environmental impact -Cons: People can be
("The United States Needs to Phase Out All than a single-use plastic educated on the effects of
Single-Use Plastic , 2018)
bag. Reusable bags also plastic on the
pose sanitary concerns. environment and still not
("Plastic Waste", 2018) care enough to take
(UN Environment, 2018)
action.

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