171 trillion pieces of plastic are floating around in our oceans
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Loading... - Ortiz Zaneta
- 27 Apr 2023
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Researchers reviewed old and new figures on how much plastic was in the oceans, to be able to calculate how much plastic there is in the oceans today.
It is important to understand how the development of plastic in the oceans has increased, to see how this affects humans and nature.
The researchers found that there has been a sharp increase in plastic in the oceans from 2005 until today.
They are unsure why the figures before 2005 vary, but it may be because of how plastic breaks down, that there was not as much research into plastic in the oceans before 2005, or that strict agreements on littering became voluntary.
“The 171 trillion pieces are made up of both recently discarded plastics and older pieces that have broken down,” researcher Marcus Eriksen told BBC News.
But this is only on the surface of the oceans.
The majority sinks to the bottom
As much as 94 per cent of all plastic that ends up in the oceans sinks to the bottom, according to WWF.
5 per cent is washed up on beaches, and 1 per cent remains on the ocean surface.
It is therefore difficult to know how much plastic there really is in the oceans.
“It's really a bit strange that we don't have better figures on how much plastic is in the oceans, but we have pretty good calculations on how much ends up in the oceans each year,” Professor Ketil Hylland at the Department of Biosciences tells sciencenorway.no. Read More…
