Saving Seafood

The world dumps 2,000 truckloads of plastic into the ocean each day. Here’s where a lot of it ends up

April 22, 2024 — The western coast of Java in Indonesia is popular with surfers for its world-famous breaks. There’s a majestic underwater world to explore, too. But it’s impossible to surf or snorkel without running into plastic water bottles, single-use cups and food wrappers.

The garbage sometimes forms islands in the sea, and much of it washes ashore, accumulating as mountains on the beach.

The world produces around 400 million metric tons of plastic waste each year. Every day, 2,000 truckloads of it is dumped into the ocean, rivers and lakes.

Read the full article at CNN

Plastic pollution from aquaculture less than that from fishing

December 10, 2019 — Plastic litter is a serious problem affecting the marine environment, with current estimates indicating there is anywhere from 27 to 66.7 million metric tons of plastic currently in the world’s oceans and rivers. That number now grows every year by more than 12 million metric tons, notes environmental consultancy Eunomia – and the resulting ecological, social, and economic costs are considerable.

Three-quarters of marine plastic litter (74 percent) originates from land, 9.4 percent from fishing litter, 7.8 percent from primary microplastics, and 4.9 percent from shipping litter, Eunomia reports.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

More plastic than fish in oceans by 2050

January 19, 2016 — The world is flooded with plastic garbage.

There will be more plastic than fish in terms of weight in the world’s oceans by 2050, the World Economic Forum warned Tuesday.

Plastic has become one of the world’s most popular materials, combining amazing functionality and very low production costs. Its use has increased 20-fold in the past 50 years and is expected to double again in the next 20 years.

Almost everybody in the world comes into contact with it — over a quarter of all plastic is used for packaging, the most popular use of the material.

But only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling. The reuse rate is terrible compared to other materials — 58% of paper and up to 90% of iron and steel gets recycled.

It gets worse. Almost a third of all plastic packaging escapes collection systems and ends up in nature or clogging up infrastructure.

Read the full story at CNN Money at KCRA