© Troy Mayne / Oceanic Imagery Publications
PART 1: THE PROBLEM
Plastic pollution first came to public attention as an ocean problem The equivalent of a truckload of plastic enters our seas every single minute5. Once there, it disintegrates into ever smaller pieces. Because plastic is so long-lasting, as much as 50 trillion plastic particles are already estimated to be floating around the world’s oceans.
But plastic isn’t just an ocean problem We now know that microplastics are also contaminating our rivers, soil, foodstuffs (like honey and salt), and even the air we breathe. And this isn’t just happening in urban areas, but in remote and uninhabited regions too. Microplastics have even been found in Antarctic sea ice6.
The impact that larger items like plastic bags, bottles and straws are having on seabirds, whales, dolphins and turtles is well documented. Less well understood are the pernicious effects microplastics are having on both underwater creatures and the building blocks of marine ecosystems, like corals and plankton.
An old Nescafe 3-in-1 sachet was trapped in between corals in Verde Island Passage, the epicentre of global marine biodiversity, in Batangas City, the Philippines. © Noel Guevara / Greenpeace
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