The global production of plastic has drastically increased from 0,5 ton per year to about 300 million per year, and the more we produce the more will end up in our marine environments
Havochvatten.se – article in swedish
Nature is not able to dispose of this material completely. Fishers around the North Sea spend approximately one to two hours per week to clean their tools from waste.
We even drink plastic, see this article in swedish:
Svenska.yle.fi – We drink plastic and are not sure of the effects
3/4th of tests, even in Europe show plastic in our drinking water according to The Guardian – Plastic fibres in tap water
“The average number of fibres found in each 500 ml sample ranged from 4.8 in the US to 1.9 in Europe.”
The following article mentions that plastic is going to weigh more than all our fish in our oceans around the world by 2050 in this ongoing pace of waste.. unless we take action!
And also mentions that although we talk about these volumes it’s important to acknowledge that Europe stands for less than 1 procent of the total amount of waste that ends in our oceans. And if we in Europe are accountable for less than 1% that gets into our oceans then where is all the rest from.. ?
Jönköpingsposten – Article about waste, future and needed action
What you can do:
*avoid one-time articles, plastic*
*leave plastic to recycling*
*cardboard (papp), tree (trä) and metal (metall) are better for the picnic or tour out to sea
Timetable for waste to break down in nature:
Glass bottle – undetermined
Disposable diaper – 450 years
Aluminium can – 200 years
Tin can – 50 years
Styrofoam cup – 50 years
Plastic grocery bag – 10-20 years
Cigarette butt – 1-5 years
Cotton gloves – 1-5 months
Waxed Milk carton – 3 months
Cardboard box – 2 months
Apple core – 2 months
Newspaper – 6 weeks
It was the following article that made me want to check out about plastic in our seas Whales found dead and findings inside stomach
I feel so very sad that the whales ate car pieces and had plastic waste in them… that shouldn’t have to happen <3
At the same time we also have other troubles ahead so solve at same time, the Baltic Sea that connects nine countries is overfertilized from pharming which leads to lack of oxygen for our fishes. The cod is in danger.. lots more can be said.. but eight measures are recommended from those doing research in the area
Balticeye – Suggested actions
Next I might check out how we sort litter better, because I know there are those that almost have no waste while others of us, we just don’t sort.. and really don’t have education in it – maybe supereasy for some.. but others of us haven’t discovered yet..
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