Science Focus
original post »Since their invention roughly 75 years ago, plastics have become increasingly prevalent in the consumer marketplace. Today, we use and dispose of plastics on a daily basis, in products like bottled water and grocery bags. Plastics now represent a significant portion of the solid waste we generate.
Unfortunately, plastic wastes are polluting our oceans. And it is thought that the majority of plastic that ends up there is originating on land. Plastic debris entering the ocean from coastlines can have dangerous effects on the oceans themselves, their wildlife, and even humans. Over time, plastics degrade into small pieces that are easy for small animals to ingest. This decay process also makes it difficult to pinpoint pollution sources after plastics enter the ocean.
The best strategy to mitigate the harmful effects we're seeing is simply to reduce the input of plastics into the ocean. However, only recently have scientists been able to figure out where all of it's coming from. Today, they've released a new estimate of the input of plastics from populations living within 50 km of coastlines worldwide.
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