Understanding plastic pollution

In the US, every day we use

• 1 billion plastic bags,

• 60 million plastic bottles,

• and between 170 and 390 million plastic straws

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Under 9% of plastic trash is recycled, and a good portion of this plastic ends up in the oceans

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This creates gyres where currents meet (there are 5 gyres in our oceans, the size of small continents)

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Plastic remains there for hundreds of years, turning to toxic microplastic particles, killing marine life and contaminating our seafood dishes and water

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At this rate, there will be more plastic

than fish in the oceans by 2050