What is the best alternative to plastic bags ?
To bring my own shopping bag and reuse: it Paper bags are only the second best alternative. The production of paper bags uses a lot of water.
Oceans cover about 70 per cent of our planet’s surface.
TRUE. Oceans cover 71% of the Earth and make up 95% of all the space available to life.
Plastic in the ocean could take a hundred of years to degrade.
FALSE: Plastic degrades into microplastics then it would disappear in 400 years only.
Plastic degrades into tiny pieces.
TRUE: In the sea, plastics break up into tiny pieces called microplastics. These are less than 5mm in size.
About 45 per cent of plastic waste is properly recycled.
FALSE: In fact, just 9% of all plastics are recycled. Around 40% of our plastic ends up in landfill and a third (1/3) ends up in fragile ecosystems.
Microplastics are found in over 75% of mussels.
TRUE: According to research, microplastics are found in up to 80% of mussels taken from British beaches!
Over 80 per cent of pollution in the sea comes from the land.
TRUE: Most of our waste eventually reaches the sea: plastics - fertilisers and pesticides in rivers - untreated sewage & chemicals in the ocean...
Only 30 per cent of the ocean is protected
FALSE: Only 4% of the ocean is under protection. We need to do far more to protect our oceans and marine plants and animal species.
Every British citizen throws away 200 straws every year.
FALSE: According to the BBC, it is estimated that in the UK we throw away 42 billion plastic straws a year. That’s around 640 per person.
How long does it take for a plastic bag to degrade in the natural environment ?
100 - 400 years: It takes one to four centuries for plastic bags to degrade.
By 2050, oceans could contain more plastic than fish.
TRUE: We are producing around 20 times more plastic than we did 50 years ago and this is expected to double again in the next 20 years.
How many plastic bags are used in Europe every year ?
100 billions: 89% of these bags are used only once
Sometimes microbeads get into humans’ bodies.
TRUE: Microbeads from soap, cosmetics or toothpaste can be ingested or found in the fish we eat.
It can take fishing lines 300 years to degrade in the ocean.
FALSE: According to some sources, sadly, it can take twice as long as this – 600 years. Around 10% of all rubbish in the sea comes from fishing.
Around half of the oxygen that we breathe comes from the ocean.
TRUE: Tiny marine organisms, called phytoplankton produce around 50% of the oxygen that we breathe.