tonnes of buoyant plastic entering the ocean each year (measured)
The lowest and most direct estimate: about 0.5 million tonnes of floating plastic a year, feeding a 3.2-million-tonne ocean stock that persists for decades.
- Value
- 0.5M
- Unit
- tonnes
- Data year
- 2020
- Trend
- Flat
- Source name
- Kaandorp et al. 2023, Nature Geoscience
- Source link
- doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01216-0
- Confidence
- Evidence: High
- Caveat / scope
- Buoyant plastic only; a much narrower scope than other ocean-inflow figures. Do not mix with them.
- Verified on
- 22 September 2026
Sources last verified 22 September 2026. Page updated 22 September 2026. How we check sources