PBS has explored the threat to the ecosystem from single-use plastics:
Christy Leavitt is the Plastics Campaign Director at Oceana.
“Almost from the moment we wake up in the morning until when we go to bed, we’re surrounded by single-use plastic, and we don’t have a choice about that. It is everywhere,” Leavitt said.
Approximately 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic had been produced as of 2018. Due to an overabundance of cheap natural gas, production of plastic is expected to triple by 2050.
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“[The plastics industry] is putting a lot of effort into producing more and more single-use plastic,” said Leavitt. “You see that when you go to the grocery store or to the convenience store. Almost everything that you want to purchase is packaged in plastic.”
This increase in plastic production leads to an increase in plastic pollution. This poses a major threat to our oceans and marine life.
An estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the marine environment every year. That’s two-garbage truck’s worth of plastic that enters the ocean every minute, according to Oceana.