Archive for the ‘Plastic’ Category

It’s estimated that 2.4 million pieces of plastic enter the world’s ocean’s every hour.  And, nearly EVERY piece of plastic ever made still exists!

No wonder plastic waste is found in the stomachs of 90% of all seabirds around the globe. Seabirds and other sea creatures think plastic bits are food, so they eat it and feed it to their chicks.  The plastic fills their stomachs and intestines, robs them of vital nutrients as well as making them feel full but starving them at the same time.

During one study of dead Fulmars found in the countries bordering the North Sea, 19 out of 20 birds had significant numbers of pieces of plastic in their stomachs.  One in particular had ingested 20.6 grams of plastic – that is the equivalent of 2 kilos or nearly 4½ lbs in a human’s stomach!

We’ve all heard about oil spills all over the world but have you ever heard of a plastic spill?  Surprisingly not all of the plastic that is floating in the oceans is rubbish that has been thrown away, most of it is plastic resin used in the production of plastic products or the finished products breaking down into hard plastic particles or Styroform nodules .  This stuff is accidentally spilled into the oceans from shipboard containers or into storm drains from trucks transporting it along our streets.

Birds, fish and other marine creatures eat these floating pellets thinking they are fish eggs. In one study in Hawaii, 70% of the plastic ingested by birds was plastic resin pellets floating in their environment.  And there is NO safe places for seabirds, turtles or other sea creatures.  Plastic is everywhere – when there is a spill of plastic resin pellets, it’s not cleaned up like oil spills are, the pellets either sink to the bottom of the sea, wash up onto beaches, are ingested by birds and animals or continually swirls around and gathers into huge floating masses.

Balloons released at a party may be great fun but they are a real hazard to birds and other wildlife. Plastic decomposes in salt water so the seabirds and other marine wildlife ingest a toxic cocktail of chemicals, including PCB’s.

In 2006, the Environmental Program from the United Nations reported that, floating on or near the surface of the water, there was an estimated average of 46,000 pieces of plastic rubbish in every square mile of the world’s oceans!

Think about all of the different plastics you use every day – diaper liners, milk bottles, water bottles, plastic bags, plastic wrap – one study estimates that every year we use enough plastic wrap to “shrink wrap the whole state of Texas”.  Here are a few more facts.  It takes 500 years for a plastic bag and 75 years for a plastic cup to decompose in a landfill.  Plastic milk jugs will disappear in about a million years!

A styrofoam cup dropped on the street causes, through its decomposition, more damage than throwing a stick of dynamite into the sea.  That one action sets into motion, for hundreds of years to come, death and destruction by “killer plastic”.