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The United States has 754,880 kg of plastic littered per day, in 2010 there was 31,865,274 kg of mismanaged waste globally 1. Irresponsible waste management accounts for a large portion of the pollution in the oceans. If the average blue whale, the largest mammal on earth, weighs 200 tons the US puts roughly the weight of 4 blue whales into the ocean daily, just from littered plastic. Globally the weight of 175.6 blue whales entered the oceans in 2010 from mismanaged waste.
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Plastic is not made from organic materials so bacteria and fungi can’t help the decomposition process at all. Plastic that enters the ocean is exposed to salt water and UV rays which make the plastic brittle and break down into smaller and smaller pieces 2. NOAA defines a micro plastic as less than 5 millimeters, which is roughly the size of a sesame seed on a hamburger bun.
video by minute earth explaining the problem through animation.