Every year, 8 million metric tonnes of plastic winds up in our oceans. That’s the equivalent of dumping one garbage truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute. If nothing is done, this will increase to two garbage trucks a minute by 2030.
Our oceans currently have over 150 million tonnes of plastics today. The Environmental Investigation Agency, an international NPO, has warned that if we continue business as usual, plastic pollution in oceans is set to triple and outweigh fish in the ocean by 2040.
There are over 80 countries in the world with full or partial ban on single-use plastic – including more than 30 African countries. Unfortunately Ghana, which produces over 1.1 million tonnes of plastic waste per year – has not created nor implemented any regulations on plastic bags.
According to the 5 Gyres Institute – an NPO focused on reducing plastic pollution – a plastic bag has an average lifespan of 12minutes before it is thrown away. Globally, one million plastic bags are used per minute and only 1% of them are recycled. Most of them make their way to the ocean where they can take up to 20 years to decompose.
The sunlight and ocean waves cause most of the 8 million metric tonnes of plastic waste in our oceans to break into tiny particles from millimetres to micrometres in size. These microplastics have been found in sea ice, the guts of animals who mistake them for other marine life and in our drinking water.
Plastic pollution is a critical issue in our environment and we all have to do our part to save our planet. From using less plastic, collecting litter in our environment, recycling and challenging our loved ones to do the same, we can have less waste in our landfills, protect our wildlife and ecosystems.
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