- Plastic waste routinely entering oceans devastates coral life, entangles marine wildlife and degraded plastic even enter aquatic animals contaminating the food chain. All these effectively cost marine ecosystems $13 billion in damages per year.
- Microplastics (less than 5mm), used in toothpastes and showergels and also formed when plastics are degraded, are ingested by organisms ranging from birds to even mussels,
- These also form ‘plastispheres’ that house harmful microbes and even absorb and transfer heavy metals such as mercury over large distances in the ocean.
- Largest source of plastics are toys, athletic goods, household durable goods, food companies, soft drinks and pharmaceutical companies.
- Plastic intensive companies must consider their plastic foot print and monitor their plastic use, reveal their results and increase resource efficiency and recycling.
- As a result of higher pollution levels of manufacturing units and lack of adequate waste management facilities, Asia is likely to suffer the most from this pollution.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sci-tech-and-agri/plastic-waste-costs-13-billion-worth-of-damages-a-year-to-marine-ecosystems/article6171816.ece
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