
Plastic Pollution
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Environment
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Plastics are disastrous to marine life, and humans have to avoid disposal of the waste that enters drains, rivers and evidently the ocean.
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Plastic is non-biodegradable so it continues to break down into smaller and smaller pieces.
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Tens of thousands of landfills across the globe have plastics full of toxic chemicals which are seeping into groundwater and flowing into the ocean.
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When plastic is dumped in landfills, it interacts with water and form hazardous chemicals.
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Wind carries and deposits plastic from one place to another, increasing the litter.
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Burning of the plastic in open air leads to environmental pollution due to the release of poisonous chemicals.
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Wildlife
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Entanglement, ingestion and habitat disruption all result from plastic ending in spaces where animals live.
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1 in 3 species of marine animals have been found entangled in marine litter.
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Over 90% of all seabirds have pieces of plastic inside their stomachs.
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Major Pollutants
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The vast majority of plastics that end up in the ocean are cups, bottles, bags and fragments of fishing gear.
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Most plastic are derived from petroleum, some newer are produced from the fermentation of corn syrup.
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Packaging is the largest market use accounting for over 40% of total plastic usage.
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Plastic are like flame retardants, they leach toxins into the water and stick to petroleum-based objects.
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The plastics contain toxin that displace nutritive algae that creatures at the top of the food chain require.
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Quick Facts
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All countries bordering a body of water have produced a total of 2.5 billion metric tons of solid waste.
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With 275 million metric tons of the 2.5 billion being plastic
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Every 11 years the amount of plastic in our ocean doubles.
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There is an estimate of 51 trillion plastic particles floating around the oceans.
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Americans alone discard 30 million tons of plastic a year, only 8% get recycled.
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It costs millions of dollars each year to clean affected areas after exposure.
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As land becomes more valuable, finding areas to throw out garage is becoming a problem.
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More than 8 billion tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year
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