Plastic bags, bottles and other trash entangled in spent fishing nets litter Jimbaran beach on the island of Bali, Indonesia. | Flickr: killerturnip

A new study tells us that approximately 8.8 million metric tons of plastic ends up in the ocean every year.

A number that big can be difficult to visualize, so imagine this: According to the study’s lead author, Jenna Jamback, that’s the equivalent of “five plastic grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in the world.”

That's a lot of plastic. | Photo: aleutia.deviantart.com

If that doesn’t worry you, how about this: projections show that by 2025 the equivalent of 10 bags per foot of coastline will enter the ocean-every year.

This is bad for multiple reasons.

John Schwartz of the New York Times explains,

“The problem is more than an aesthetic one: Exposed to saltwater and sun, and the jostling of the surf, the debris shreds into tiny pieces that become coated with toxic substances like PCBs and other pollutants.

Research into the marine food chain suggests that fish and other organisms consume the bite-size particles and may reabsorb the toxic substances. Those fish are eaten by other fish, and by people.”

Gross.

I’m calling you out, litter bugs!

According to the study, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka are responsible for more than half of all of the plastic waste going into the ocean, with China ranked as the number one offender.

Currently, China produces 3.5 million metric tons of plastic per year that ends up in the ocean. In comparison, the United States (ranked 20th on the list) adds 110,000 metric tons of plastic per year. (It’s worth noting, however, that the US is the only “industrialized western country” listed in the top 20, so Americans like me have no reason to whip out our red white and blue in celebration.)

What can we do?

While it would be great to simply collect all of the waste we’ve put into the ocean, a more realistic approach is addressing what’s putting it there in the first place.

Generally speaking, the countries topping the list wound up there because they lack efficient waste management systems. I think it’s understandable, considering they’ve been busy building their economies and addressing other pressing issues. But this is an issue that needs to be prioritized too.

Conversely, Seth Borenstein reports that “the U.S. and Europe are not mismanaging their collected waste, so the plastic trash coming from those countries is due to litter.” Well that’s embarrassing. But it means the solution is easy for these countries- stop littering.

As global citizens, there’s a lot we can do to help too. Small changes like recycling, carrying reusable bags to the grocery store, asking for paper instead of plastic, and carrying reusable water bottles can go a long way.


It’s on all of us to protect our planet and each other, and this is the year to do it. Coming up are two United Nations summits with enormous potential. In September, the UN will agree on a new to-do list (the Sustainable Development Goals, or the SDGs) that will pick up where left off (the MDGs). Then, in December, the UN Climate Change Conference will set new climate action targets, which are vital in combating climate change.

That’s where Action/2015 comes in. Action/2015 is a citizen’s movement of hundreds of organizations around the world demanding truly ambitious agreements on poverty, inequality and climate change in 2015. Global Citizen has joined the movement and we want you to be a part of it.

----

Christina Nuñez

Click for more Action/2015 content

Editorial

Defend the Planet

A shocking study reveals the damage caused by our plastic obsession

By Christina Nuñez