Study: 8 Million Metric Tons of Plastic Dumped Into Oceans Annually

hypnosec writes: According to a new study (abstract) that tracked marine debris from its source, roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic gets dumped into the world's oceans annually. Plastic waste is a global problem, and until now, there wasn't a comprehensive study that highlighted how much plastic waste was making it into the oceans. "The research also lists the world's 20 worst plastic polluters, from China to the United States, based on such factors as size of coastal population and national plastic production. According to the estimate, China tops the list, producing as much as 3.5 million metric tons of marine debris each year. The United States, which generates as much as 110,000 metric tons of marine debris a year, came in at No. 20."

Comments

Sounds like a business opportunity...

[Anonymous Coward]

...go trolling for plastic, turn it into fuel or something else. We probably are reaching a point where oil exploration is going to remain diminished... a glut of current supply. With so much waste in our landfills and in the environment, we can just mine our waste for resources for a while.

Re:Sounds like a business opportunity...

[MickyTheIdiot]

Which is, yet again, a great example how every little thing in a society shouldn't be run on profit motive only. There are lots of things worth doing for the good of everyone that might lead to a fat cat getting a little less money but are still worth doing.

I have a solution

[Iniamyen]

Maybe retail stuff could be packaged in a simple cardboard box with biodegradable stuffing, instead of those stupid, stupid plastic clamshell containers that frustrate and then cut me when I try to get them open.

Re:I have a solution

[c]

Online shops is the obvious place to enforce this. No packaging for simple stuff like cables, plain bags for non-breakable loose stuff, plain boxes for everything else. People are buying from pictures and reviews and shoplifting is a non-issue, so packaging only needs to be minimally functional. I think AmazonBasics products use this approach, and it'd be nice to see Amazon push it back a bit on their suppliers.

Ideally, it should be the responsibility of the retailer to display the product attractively rather than the job of the package, but blame Walmart. They've done a pretty solid job of unloading a lot of traditional retailer jobs back on the manufacturers.

Re:Not that much

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is far worse than that. The plastic degrades into microscopic particulates which then enter the food chain. It affects *all* marine life--since it's all connected. They even discovered recently how much paint (from ship hulls) is floating around and being consumed by animals--which is also a problem.
We need to stop dumping *anything* into the ocean--it's a primary source of food on our planet.

Re:Not that much

[Anonymous Coward]

But doesn't most aquatic life concentrate in a small percentage of the sea (ie: near the surface)?
And isn't that where most plastic ends up?

Re:Sure, 8 million tons, but that's the free marke

[MightyMartian]

No, you're quite right. All that really counts is money, so providing someone is making money by not dealing with plastic trash entering waterways, that's good. Aquatic life, future generations, they don't really make us that much money, so fuck them, each and every one.

Re:Not that much

[Anonymous Coward]

How long are people going to take it up the ass from corporate america before you realize it is happening?

Thank you, CEO, may I have another??

Re:Not that much

[Anonymous Coward]

your asshole isn't always as large as your mouth

Re:Not that much

[orgelspieler]

I only put about 1 microgram of E.coli (about 1,000,000 cells) into this five gallon jug of water. That's like 0.000000005% of the mass of the water. Do you want to drink it?