A new report has been launched by CleanHub to highlight the devastating amount of ocean plastic pollution in 2024, and the impact it’s having on marine life and the environment. A lot of the problem comes from single use plastics, of which production is increasing over the next decade.
Image Credit: CleanHub
Key report findings:
- 300 million plastic bags end up in the Atlantic Ocean alone.
- 8.3 billion plastic straws are found on worldwide shorelines, with around 7.5 million on United States shores alone.
- Only 1 in 6 plastic bottles get recycled, even though 1 million are purchased every minute.
- For each mile of UK beach there are 150 plastic bottles & 5000 pieces of plastic.
- 56% of all marine life have ingested plastic.
Launched ahead of Earth Day 2024 (22nd April), with this year’s theme being Planet Vs. Plastic, the 'How Much Plastic Is In The Ocean?' report from plastic pollution prevention startup CleanHub analyses industry data on the amount of plastic that is in our oceans, with sections specifically focusing on plastic bags, straws, bottles, and microplastics. It also looks at the countries that produce most plastic waste, the main ways that plastics enter our oceans, and the state of ocean garbage patches.
Currently, 14 million tons of plastic enter our oceans annually - the equivalent weight of five blue whales entering our environment every hour. For every person on the planet, this works out to 21,000 pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. By 2050, in terms of weight, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. A shocking 81% of all marine litter is plastic, and four-fifths of it starts out being used on land, with the rest coming from marine industries.
On the seafloor, there are up to 11 million tons of plastic waste and 10,000 times more plastic particles than on the surface, with microplastics making up more than 14 million tons. On the surface, it’s estimated that there are an astonishing 358 trillion microplastic particles.
Drowning in Single Use Plastics
Plastic bags in particular are a huge ocean pollution issue. They quickly break down into microplastics and/or are ingested by marine life - it’s estimated that 56% of all marine life have ingested plastic. Annually, up to 300 million plastic bags end up in the Atlantic Ocean alone. Problematically, recycling rates for plastic bags are very low - up to 5 trillion plastic bags are used every year, with a 12-minute average use time, and only 1% are recycled.
Despite efforts to restrict single use plastic bags from some countries, including the US, UK and China, single use plastic production rates have actually increased. About 137 million tonnes of single-use plastics were produced from fossil fuels in 2021, and this number is expected to rise by another 17 million tonnes by 2027.
Up to 8.3 billion plastic straws are found on worldwide shorelines, with around 7.5 million on United States shores alone. They make up around 4% of plastic trash by piece, but far less by weight - their average weight is so small that they only amount to 2,000 of the nearly 9 million tons of plastic waste that annually enters the oceans.
Similar to the other plastic products, it’s hard to know just how many plastic bottles are in the ocean. As 1 million are purchased worldwide every minute, and with only 1 in 6 getting recycled, many will end up polluting the environment. It’s been found that for each mile of UK beach there are 5000 pieces of plastic & 150 plastic bottles.
Tracing the Origins of Ocean Plastic Waste
It’s estimated that 80% of Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) comes from Asian countries, although much of this is shipped in from abroad. China, the United States, and India produce the most plastic waste per year, and India, China, and Brazil mismanaged the most waste, showing an imbalance between production and waste management. Poor waste management infrastructure and overspilling landfills are the key reasons so much ends up in the oceans.
However, in terms of waste produced per person, America comes first with 105 kg of plastic thrown away yearly, with the United Kingdom in second at 99 kg. Much of the data around plastic waste exports is omitted in some countries, making it difficult to determine the exact amount of waste thrown away by each country. As of 2020, Europe was the biggest exporter of plastic waste as well as the biggest importer, highlighting the complex nature of plastic movement around the world.
The fishing industry is responsible for around 10% of ocean waste, known as ‘ghost’ fishing gear such as fishing nets, traps, and lines that get lost. Some of the ghost nets are kilometres long, and it’s difficult to know how many are on the ocean floor as many are weighed down by the dead marine life - sometimes as large as sperm whales - caught in them.
Garbage Patches and an Uncertain Future
The report also looks at ocean garbage patches, which are a culmination of ocean waste around marine gyres (whirlpool-like currents). There are five main patches - one in the Indian Ocean, two in the Atlantic Ocean, and two in the Pacific Ocean. The largest and most infamous is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, estimated to be three times the size of France.
Despite huge efforts to counter ocean garbage patches - with The Ocean Cleanup NGO removing about 25,000 pounds of trash during one collection in 2023, the largest gathering of patch waste - they continue to exist as more waste keeps coming to them.
The future of ocean plastic waste is difficult to predict. If the mismanagement of plastic waste doesn’t stop, it’s set to get worse - especially as plastic production is expected to grow by 10% within the next decade.
There are global efforts being made - several nations signed the historic High Seas Treaty in 2023, with the aim of turning 30% of oceans into protected areas by 2030 to protect marine life and reduce harmful fishing practises. The UN also introduced the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution that encourages countries to stop plastic pollution by 2040 through a circular economy model. However, neither of these specifically deals with existing plastic waste.
Many organisations and startups are helping to reduce ocean-bound plastic such as The Ocean Cleanup, Clean Ocean Action, and CleanHub, which empowers businesses to stop ocean-bound plastic waste and supports coastal communities in the process.
Please read the full report here: https://blog.cleanhub.com/how-much-plastic-in-the-ocean
CleanHub’s Vice President of Marketing, Nikki Stones, comments on the report:
“Ocean plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental issues of our time. It continues to grow to shocking levels, and affects not only marine life but people too through its impact on the entire ecosystem. Products must be created with their end-of-life in mind and we need to build better infrastructure to deal with the huge amounts of waste.
At CleanHub we believe that ocean plastic pollution is solved on the land, not the sea. By introducing effective waste management where it doesn’t exist and transforming waste materials into something useful on a much larger scale. This way, we reduce our reliance on new materials and utilize waste, instead of dumping it. Without these solutions in place around the world, ocean pollution will only continue to increase.”