Plastic vs Environment
Because plastic takes a very long time to breakdown (up to 1000 years), all of humanities plastic waste has built up in our environment. Eight million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans each year, choking and poisoning millions of birds, mammals, fish and all other forms of life that humanity relies upon. This is equivalent people lining up shoulder to shoulder along every coastline in the world and throwing in a rubbish bag full of plastic into the sea - each year.
Recent studies have revealed marine plastic pollution has now been found in 100% of marine turtles, 59% of whales, 36% of seals and 40% of seabird species examined. This is expected to get worse - with more plastic than fish by weight estimated to become reality by 2050.
Asides from the killing our wildlife and leaching harmful chemicals into our bodies, plastic also has many other drawbacks. Plastic worldwide is almost entirely made from oil - a fossil fuel. Through buying plastic we directly increase our demand for more oil - over the past century the insatiable quest for oil has led to horrific wars, environmental destruction and the gross violation of human rights.
