{"id":1097,"date":"2022-02-15T16:37:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T15:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/actforyourplanet.com\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:53:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:53:53","slug":"plastic-trash-is-littering-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/actforyourplanet.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/15\/plastic-trash-is-littering-the-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"PLASTIC TRASH IS LITTERING THE EARTH"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mass production of plastics, which began just six decades ago, has accelerated so rapidly that it has created 8.3 billion metric tons\u2014most of it in disposable products that end up as trash.<\/p>\n

If that seems like an incomprehensible quantity, it is!!<\/p>\n

Even the scientists who set out to conduct the world\u2019s first tally of how much plastic has been produced, discarded, burned or put in landfills, were horrified by the sheer size of the numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all knew there was a rapid and extreme increase in plastic production from 1950 until now, but actually quantifying the cumulative number for all plastic ever made was quite shocking,\u201d saysMs Jambeck , University of Georgia environmental engineer who specializes in studying plastic waste in the oceans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of increase would \u2018break\u2019 any system that was not prepared for it, and this is why we have seen leakage from global waste systems into the oceans,\u201d she says. \"\"<\/p>\n

Plastic takes more than 400 years to degrade, so most of it still exists in some form. Only 12 percent has been incinerated.<\/p>\n

The study was launched two years ago as scientists tried to get a handle on the gargantuan amount of plastic that ends up in the seas and the harm it is causing to bish and birds and marine animals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The prediction that by mid-century, the oceans will contain more plastic waste than fish, ton for ton, has become one of the most-quoted statistics and a rallying cry to do something about it.