Ocean trash Ocean trash | Page 10

Fun Facts

-There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea.("Impact of Plastic Waste on Oceans)

-On a single day in 2007, nearly 400,000 volunteers around the world picked up more than 6 million pounds of trash. A majority of the items were single-use disposable plastic items, such as plastic bags and Styrofoam containers.("Impact of Plastic Waste on Oceans)

-The seafloor beneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap. Oceanographers and ecologists recently discovered that about 70% of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean.(National Geographic)

-Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.

-One million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.("Marine Problems: Pollution.)

-Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.("Trash Pollution.")