Help Stop Plastics From Entering the Ocean

STC Sea Turtle Blog

Help Stop Plastics From Entering the Ocean

October 21, 2015

Plastics have become a staple of modern societies across the globe. In 2012, nearly 300 million tons of new plastic items were produced. Each day, these and other plastic articles are sold, used, and disposed. However, an alarming amount of these plastics do not stay on land. Through improper disposal or direct dumping, millions of tons of plastic now call our ocean home.

According to recent studies, including a paper in the prestigious journal Science, we are facing a dire future:

5-14 million tons of plastic enter our ocean each year from land-based sources.
Over 50% of plastic entering the ocean comes from just five countries where there is a lack of waste management capacity.
By 2025, for every three tons of finfish swimming in the ocean, there could be one ton of plastic in marine waters as well.
Plastics are already negatively affecting more than 660 marine wildlife species.

As organizations committed to ocean and human health, the mounting body of science makes us increasingly concerned about the growing tide of plastics entering the ocean and its negative impacts on marine wildlife and habitats.

We’re calling on industry to work with us to stop plastic from entering the ocean.

The signees of this letter represent a diverse array of NGO stakeholders from around the world asking industry and fellow NGOs to stand by us to help stop plastics from entering the ocean. By working together, we can develop innovative solutions, including integrated waste management, at a global scale that will reduce plastic leakage from land and keep our ocean and communities vibrant and healthy.

Please join us.