How does plastic enter the ocean?
We hear that there is a lot of plastic in the oceans, but where does it all come from? How does plastic enter the ocean?
Plastic comes from both land-based and sea-based sources, for example fishing, shipping, farming, factories and from drains and rivers.
Plastic is flushed down toilets, left on beaches and blown off landfill sites. When you drop litter on the streets, it can go down drains and into rivers that feed into the ocean.
Thousands of shipping containers are lost every year and these contribute to the problem.
Beauty products contains glitter and microbeads which get washed down the drain.
Clothes produce tiny plastic fibres that get washed down the drain when you do your washing.
Have you ever been to the beach in the summer?! So many people take toys and food to the beach, or buy them at beach front shops. A lot of plastic waste gets left behind by beach users and this then goes into the ocean.
Did you know, rivers carry millions of tonnes of plastic into the ocean every year? It doesn’t matter whether you live near the sea or near a river, any plastic from anywhere can end up in the ocean and it doesn’t go away.
More from BBC Earth
Watch the video at this link from BBC Earth to find out more
So how does plastic enter the ocean? From just about everywhere. There are plenty of things that everyone can do to help and that’s why we are promoting the Plastic Free Communities campaign.
What can you do?
Read through the blog posts on this site to find out about some simple swaps that you can make to reduce your own use of single-use plastic.
Feel free to share your swaps with us on our social media pages, we’d love to see what changes you are making and it may help inspire other people to get started.