Translated material
On the ocean day, 11 million tons of plastic could be accumulated already
On the oceanic day, 11 million tons of plastic could be accumulated. This follows from the first study of the bottom of the bottom, which the Malaysian media Sinar Daily drew attention to.
According to scientists from the Scientific Agency of CSIRO and the University of Toronto, a mass of plastic garbage at the bottom of the ocean can be from 3 to 11 million tons. Such numbers were given to them by a model based on data from remotely controlled devices and bottom trawling. The study concerns only large garbage: cups, packages, networks.
"We knew that millions of tons of plastic waste fall into the oceans every year, but did not know how many pollution it was at the bottom of the ocean," says researcher Denise Hardest.
Scientists have found that 46% of plastic garbage settles around the continents, the rest of it goes into the ocean and sinks deeper.
- Every year, humanity produces about 400 million tons of plastic waste. Of these, according to various estimates, from 9 to 14 million tons enters the ocean. People leave plastic products on the coast, throw them off the fishing vessels to the sea, also carry them with rivers from land.
- Animals swallow plastic with food, which leads to their diseases and deaths. In 2023, scientists first diagnosed plasticosis in birds - stomach fibrosis caused exclusively by swallowing plastic.
- Microplastics rises from the surface of the ocean, spreads along the planet, enters water and food. Scientists calculated that a week on the ground “eats” a plastic bank card per week. In March 2022, microplastics was first discovered in human blood.
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