TURNING THE TIDE ON

PLASTIC POLLUTION
By Mia Herriot

1 million marine animal lives were taken last whales, 36% of deceased seals and 40% of
year due to plastic pollution. 1 million lives deceased seabirds that were examined
that could have been saved. 1 million lives contained plastic pollution in their systems. It
that we took. The Ocean Cleanup is is evident that plastic pollution is already
undertaking the largest cleanup in history to taking its toll on marine animals and if we
save the lives of marine animals and find don’t do something soon, there will be no
solutions to solving this crisis. Plastic marine animals still alive or not affected by
pollution is consuming our oceans and is plastic pollution for the following
expected to equal the amount of fish in the generations. Plastic pollution does not only
ocean by 2050. This organisation has affect marine life but it also impacts us,
recognised this as an urgent problem and is humans. The risk that plastic pollution is
now taking action by starting their ocean proposing to our health is becoming
cleanup. They are clearing the path for more increasingly concerning as more and more
similar organisations to develop and take
marine life digest plastic. These plastics that
action as well as raising awareness about
end up in our oceans often absorb hazardous
this crisis to ensure that plastic doesn’t
chemicals on their trip to and while they
replace the fish in our oceans.
circulate throughout our oceans. When these
plastics are consumed by marine life, there is

This 'problem' is now a crisis an increasing risk that these hazardous

toxins are now being consumed by us when
With more than 8 million tonnes of plastic
we consume marine animals such as fish.
ending up in our oceans each year, plastic
The extent that our health is affected by us
pollution is now consuming our oceans.
consuming these various hazardous
Marine animals are being injured and killed
chemicals includes increased risk of cancers,
by plastic pollution and it is estimated that
immune system impairment and birth defects.
over 700 species will go extinct due to plastic
Not only does plastic pollution affect our
pollution with 600 species currently being
affected. Recent studies show how 100% of marine life but it is negatively affecting us

deceased marine turtles, 59% of deceased too, therefore, becoming evident that this is
not a ‘problem’ but is a crisis.
What they are doing
ocean. The system has not only proved to be
effective and marine life friendly but is the
The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit first of hopefully many more similar cleanup
organisation, founded in 2013 by Dutch systems as “for society to progress, we
inventor Boyan Slat, that is tackling one of should not only move forward but also clean
the worlds biggest problems today; plastic up after ourselves” stated Boyan Slat, CEO
pollution in our oceans. The Ocean Cleanup and founder of the Ocean Cleanup
aims to clean up half the Great Pacific organisation.
Garbage Patch in 5 years, release a whole
fleet of their plastic removal devices by 2020
and clean up 90% of the oceans' plastic by What this means for our future
2040. The Ocean Cleanup dedicated many The Ocean Cleanup is paving the path to a
years towards research, sampling and testing better future and it is essential that we
to find an effective solution to cleaning the
support these organisations before there is
plastic pollution from our oceans proving how
nothing left to save. The Ocean Cleanup has
“a simple idea turned into a moonshot
proved that this crisis can be reversed and
project”.
has shown us what can be done when we
collaborate and strategically use our
resources. I am hopeful that this is the first of
many other similar organisations that are
dedicated to saving our earth as the future
we are currently destined for is
unacceptable.

The Ocean Cleanup believes that “the health

Concentration of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

(GPGP)
The ocean is a large place so cleaning up to
90% of its plastic pollution by 2040 means
that they aim to clean up more than nine
hundred billion tons of plastic which sounds
impossible. But despite the many doubts
about how effective their system is and if
these goals will be met, the Ocean Cleanup
is certain that they
successful. Through the organisations many
years of research they sampled which areas
had the highest density of plastic pollution,
the toxicity that plastics release, invested in
of our oceans is essential for all life on Earth
to prosper” and believe that the future we are
designing for ourselves is unacceptable but
inevitable if we don’t change our ways. This
organisation has already made
groundbreaking progress towards a better
future but still has a big task ahead of them if
they want to fulfil their goals. This earth is
our home, our responsibility and now our
problem. If we don’t change the way we live
will be
and the amount of waste we produce, every
aspect of our lives will change for the worst.
Plastic is already making up 10% of our
oceans with the amount steadily increasing

remote sensing that detects plastic pollution so make a difference if you want a better
in the oceans, used modelled environmental future for this earth and help this
data to predict the dispersion of plastic in our organisation by turning the tide on plastic
oceans and researched the best ways to pollution.
recycle the plastic that they collect from the