Picture five grocery bags of plastic trash, piled high along every foot of coastline on Earth. That’s about how much plastic waste ends up in the oceans each year. Some of the plastic is thrown off ships. But most makes its way into the oceans from the coastal regions. Plastic is dumped on land or in rivers, then ends up in the sea. Turtles are choking on straws. Whales and birds are starving because their stomachs are filled with plastic bits. Experts estimate that plastic will take hundreds of years to biodegrade, if it ever does.
Read more about how plastic polluting the oceans.
