19–23 million tonnes of plastic entered rivers, lakes and seas in 2016
Even the most ambitious commitments would leave tens of millions of tonnes of plastic entering aquatic ecosystems every year.
Policymakers
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More than 1,000 rivers carry 80% of plastic into the sea, not just ten
Ocean plastic comes from thousands of small urban rivers, overturning the earlier claim that ten big rivers carry 90% of it.
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Less plastic enters the ocean than thought, but it lasts for decades
A Nature Geoscience model finds 3.2 million tonnes of floating plastic in the ocean, fed by only about 0.5 million tonnes a year, mostly…
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About 2% of all fishing gear is lost at sea every year
Interviews with fishers worldwide show enormous annual losses of nets, lines, hooks and traps, a lethal source of ocean plastic.
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Clothes washing and tyre wear are the biggest sources of ocean microplastics
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates 1.5 million tonnes of primary microplastics reach the ocean each year, over a third from synthetic…
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Plastic bottles and caps overtake cigarette butts as the top beach litter
Ocean Conservancy’s 40th International Coastal Cleanup logged 1.3 million plastic bottles and 886,000 caps in a single year.
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Lancet Countdown: plastics cost more than US$1.5 trillion a year in health damage
The Lancet’s new annual tracker calls plastics a grave, growing and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health.
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Minderoo-Monaco Commission: plastics harm health at every stage of their life
The first full-lifecycle medical review found plastics cause disease from oil extraction through manufacturing, use and disposal.
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Heart patients with plastic in their arteries had 4.5 times the risk of death or stroke
A NEJM study found microplastics in 58% of artery plaques, and those patients suffered far more heart attacks, strokes and deaths over three years.
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144 chemicals known to be hazardous are actively used in plastics
The Endocrine Society and International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN)’s guide catalogues the plastic additives linked to cancer, diabetes, infertility and developmental harm.