A handful of microplastics washed ashore at Kamilo Beach, Hawaii are part of the plastic crisis (Picture: SWNS)
Plastic pollution is soaring rapidly – and there are more than 171trillion particles, and rising, floating in our oceans, a study finds.
Some 2.3million tons of plastic waste clog up the seas and it will get worse if global treaties to limit pollution are not agreed soon, experts warn.
Failure to tackle the issue will see current pollution levels increase about 2.6 times by 2040, data shows.
The prediction comes after the 40-year study monitored plastic waste levels in the north and south Atlantic and Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Researcher Marcus Eriksen, co-founder of The 5 Gyres Institute, said: ‘We’ve found an alarming trend of exponential growth of microplastics in the global ocean since the millennium.
‘This is a stark warning that we must act now at a global scale. We need a strong, legally binding UN Global Treaty that stops the problem at the source.’
Fuelled by demand for disposable packaging, global plastic production has been increasing since the 1950s and reached 390.7million tons in 2021.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
Related Posts:
- 171 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the oceans as pollution reaches ‘unprecedented’ levels, scientists warn News A group of scientists analyzing global data collected over the past four decades have found a “rapid increase” in ocean plastic pollution since 2005, according to a research article published in the journal Plos One. That surge has created a “plastic smog” in the world’s oceans, made up of an…
- Lego sales soar as fans buy Harry Potter and Star Wars sets News A customer reaches for a box from the Lego Dots range at the Lego A/S store in London, Britain, on Monday March 7, 2022. Bloomberg | Getty Images Lego sales are building on pandemic-era growth fueled by a diverse range of products that appeal to both children and adults. On…
- Tesla supplier CATL smashes earnings estimate as EV sales soar News (Bloomberg) — China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. reported annual profits that beat estimates of stronger demand for cleaner cars, underscoring its dominance as the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries. Most read by Bloomberg The supplier to Tesla Inc. on Thursday reported net income for the 12 months…
- Letters: Rainfall numbers | CO2 removal | Not penciling out | Disdain for undocumented | Free health care | Republican overreach News Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Average rainfallreadings for accuracy Joseph Gemignani (“Experts say rain data at San Jose airport likely is way off,” Page A1, March 4) notes the large discrepancy between rain data being supplied by the station at…
- Letters: Rainfall numbers | CO2 removal | Not penciling out | Disdain for undocumented | Free health care | Republican overreach News Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Average rainfall readings for accuracy Joseph Gemignani (“Experts say rain data at San Jose airport likely is way off,” Page A1, March 4) notes the large discrepancy between rain data being supplied by the station…