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I know, there are already so many things to worry about. It’s almost painful to hear about one more way in which we may be harming the world. Such reports are also often couched in emotional and dramatic terms.<\/p>\nI know, there are already so many things to worry about. It’s almost painful to hear about one more way in which we may be harming the world. Such reports are also often couched in emotional and dramatic terms.<\/p>\n
However, it’s important to sift through the rhetoric and evaluate what the science says about what is actually going on. There is increasing reporting about the coming plastic apocalypse<\/a>. We are dumping massive amounts of plastic into the environment, and some of that plastic is winding up in the world’s oceans. The world produced<\/a>\u00a0343 million tons of plastic in 2014. Only 10% of that plastic was recycled. In total we have produced\u00a08.3 billion metric tons of plastic, which does not biodegrade for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n The fact is, human civilization is big enough that we have to think about the effects of our massive industry. Producing that much plastic will likely have an impact on the environment. The biggest impact may be the percentage that winds up in the oceans – about 10%. Once there is just breaks down into smaller and smaller bits. Many animals accidentally eat the plastic, which can be fatal.<\/p>\n The good news is there are simple and effective ways to manage our plastic waste. The number one plastic polluter is China –\u00a0 almost 9 million metric tons of their plastic ends up on the ocean each year. The next country is Indonesia, with just over 3 million metric tons, followed by the Philippines, at just under two. The USA ranks 20th with less than 300 thousand million metric tons.<\/p>\n