It’s time to face the facts: our plastic usage is out of control; and unfortunately, most of it ends up in our oceans. Custommade.com has created an infographic entitled "Spiraling Out of Control", detailing our current plastic usage situation, and what you can do to help. We’ve produced more plastic in the last ten years than we did in the entirety of the last century. And all that plastic? Half of it is only used once – and then thrown away. From water bottles to garbage bags, it’s imperative that we get control of our plastic usage, or face losing precious resources and wildlife. This infographic covers statistics about our plastic usage, information about “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, and details ways you and I can undertake right now to reduce our plastic use. Feel free to like, comment, and share this infographic from custommade.com entitled “Spiraling Out of Control”. SPIRALING Out of Control Plastic Buildup in our OCEANS Plastics Above Sea Level Creating the plastic we use requires approximately 8 % of our oil reserves tto That equates to the amount of oil used by all of Africa It takes about 14 liter of oil to produce a 1 liter water bottle HD We have produced more plastic in the last 10 years than we did in the whole of last century Almost 12 of the plastic we use is used just once and then thrown away 1950: 2008: 50 million tons of plastic 242005 million tons of plastic Shoppers worldwide use approximately 500,000,000,000single - use plastic bags annually That s about 1 million bags every minute across the globe or 152000 bags every year for every person on earth 61000 0 x60 OOOO.. If you joined them end to end, the bags would circumnavigate the globe 4, 200 times It takes just 4 family shopping trips to accumulate 60 shopping bags A plastic bag has an average working life of 15 minutes Only 1 in 5 plastic water bottles are recycled Americans throw away 35 billion plastic water bottles every year Plastics Under Sea Level Plastic has been found in all of the major oceans, not just areas of human habitation Every year, 6. 4 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean This is the same as 1, 982008 miles of trucks loaded with plastic There are an estimated 5. 25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean Of that, 269,000tons float on the surface And around 4,000,000,000plastic microfibers per square kilometer cover the deep sea 100, 0 marine creatures die every year from plastic entanglement Entanglement rates of up to 7. 9 % have been discovered in some species of seal and sea lions 31 species of marine mammals are known to have ingested plastic 0.079 x10, 0 Roughly 1,000,000sea birds also die from plastic consumption or entanglement At least 2 / 3 of the world s fish stocks are suffering from plastic ingestion A plastic bag can kill fish and animals because it does not biodegrade When the animal dies, the plastic bag is released into the environment again Another animal could fall victim to the same fate Plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces ( though never fully degrades ) Those smaller pieces enter the food chain and release chemicals into the fish that eat them THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH ( GPGP ) is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Also known as the Pacific trash vortex. Spans waters from the west coast of North America to Japan The warm water from the South Pacific meets up with cooler water from the Arctic W This moves debris back and forth between the Western Garage Patch ( located near Japan ) to the Eastern Garbage Patch ( located between Hawaii and California ) Patches are made up almost entirely of tiny bits of plastic called microplastics, which can t always be seen by the naked eye 80 % of the debris in the GPGP comes from land - based activities in North America and Asia Trash from the North American coast takes about 6 years to reach the GPGP Trash from Japan and other Asian countries takes 1 year The remaining 20 % of debris comes from : Boaters Large cargo ships that dump or lose debris directly into the water Offshore oil rigs 0 Most of this debris is fishing nets : about 705, 0 tons Dropped shipping containers have released computer monitors and LEGOS The Great Pacific Garbage Patch North Pacific Kuroshio Subtropical Convergence Zone California Western Garbage Patch Eastern Garbage Patch or North Pacific Subtropical High North Equatorial Since the GPGP is so far from any country s coastline, no nation will take responsibility to fund a clean - up effort It would take an estimated 67 ships and one year to clean up less than 1 % of the North Pacific Ocean There are 5 ocean gyres in the world where plastic gathers due to current circulation These gyres contain millions of pieces of plastic Wildlife feeds in these areas The 5 Gyres North Pacific Gyre North Atlantic Gyre South Atlantic Gyre South Pacific Gyre Indian Ocean Gyre Rotating ocean currents, called gyres, carry debris into five concentrated areas 46 % of plastics float 2000 Plastic can drift for years before eventually concentrating in ocean gyres Scientists have identified 200 areas declared as dead zones where no life organisms can grow What Are We Doing About It ? Marine litter - plastic waste in particularis a global problem The vast majority of plastic waste ends up in landfill sites A significant proportion of plastic gets into our waterways and eventually ends up in oceans EEEEE EEEEE III 11 Plastic waste on coastlines is more prevalent around more populated coastal areas, but once plastic enters the ocean, global currents distribute it around the world Concerns of energy consumption within the plastic industry have prompted growth in bioplastics III Bioplastics are derived from renewable bioproducts, including : Agricultural Food processing crops and crop residues, dried distillers grains byproducts, residues, other materials • They account for 10 - 15 % of the global market... Bioplastics are not a perfect solution - many products can take decades to degrade and they can release methane gasses Ireland introduced a $ 0. 15 plastic bag tax and reduced their usage by 90 % in just one year Now they tax $ 0. 22 per bag It costs the Australian government more than $ 4 million to clean up plastic bag litter each year The floods in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998 were worsened by plastic bags clogging drains Since then, the government has banned plastic bags In 2010, the Cinque Terre region of Italy banned plastic bottles An estimated 2 million bottles were left behind by tourists annually ----------------------------------------------- There s no shortage of plastics collecting in our oceans. Buildup of plastics and partially broken - down plastics harm human and aquatic life. Think twice about your plastic use to help prevent more plastic pollution in our waterways. plasticoceans.net oceancrusaders.org education.nationalgeographic.com omafra.gov.on.ca BROUGHT TO YOU BY : IN PARTNERSHIP WITH : CUSTOM MADE° GHERGICH & Co.
