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„Curiosity is always the first step to a problem that needs to be solved“
Up to date, 1,401 species have been affected by plastic litter in different ways. Animals consume plastic which can lead to injuries in the gut or block the stomach resulting in malnutrition and even starvation. Various animals get entangled in plastic litter. This can lead to death because the animals cannot escape their predators, get exhausted or drown.
Plastic is in mass production since 1950s and about 7.8 billion metric tons have been produced to date. The production grew enormously over time, since 2014 over 300 million metric tons are produced every year. About 42 % are used for packaging especially short life products such as plastic bags.
Top 5 plastic litter found on beaches during 2016 international coastal cleanup:
Top 5 primary microplastic sources:
About 5.25 trillion plastic particles weighing 269,000 metric tons are estimated to be floating in the ocean. 92 % of this mass are microplastic. This occurrence has been described as ‘synthetic smog’, much like the air pollution hovering over polluted cities. However, the majority of plastic lies on the seafloor.
