THE CAUSE
•Around 225 million tons of plastic are produced each year, mostly used only once
•1 million toxic plastic bags are used every minute
•Only 3-5% of the plastic is recycled
•The degradation time for plastic in the marine environment is, for the most part, unknown. Estimates are in the region of hundreds of years
THE CONSEQUENCE
•It is estimated that 10% of plastic waste ends up in the oceans and plastic is believed to constitute 90% of all rubbish floating in the oceans
•The UN Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic
•Around 1 million birds and 100,000 mammals die every year because of plastic waste