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

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:I have a solution

[Penguinisto]

The clamshell packages weren't made for you the consumer... it was originally designed for the retailer to slow down shoplifting.

After all, it's much harder to smuggle out a bigger-than-your-pocket-sized plastic container with a 64GB geek stick in it, than to simply smuggle out the geek stick itself. Being hard to open w/o damaging it prevents a shoplifter from just taking that 64GB geek stick out of its original package and putting it into a 8GB package (with an obviously cheaper price tag) before strolling to the checkout stand with it.

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: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

[wierd_w]

Because the excretory systems of simple invertebrates of this type (Corals, sponges, etc) preclude the existence of a dedicated GI tract as you would normally envision it. (A sponge is literally just two layers of cells that suck in water on one side, and push out water on the other, for instance.) They are unable to digest the particle, it stays large, and it cannot pass through. This is bad for the filter feeder, and toxic to the organism that consumes the filter feeder.

Re:"Metric" tons?

[netsavior]

ton(UK) 2240lb
ton(US) 2000lb
Tonne or Metric ton 1000kg (2204.62lb)

so yes, it matters.