World Oceans Day (8 June) is coming up this week! Here's why it's so important to keep our oceans plastic-free.
There's more to the famous rubbish patch than meets the eye.
Do you know how much plastic has accumulated in our oceans? Take a look at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating island of plastic rubbish estimated to be twice the size of France - and that's not even all the plastic that's been thrown into the ocean! The growing problem of plastic pollution means that there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, and microplastics have already been found in one out of four fish - which means we might end up ingesting bits of plastic. This is a problem that affects us all, and that's why we must take action today.
Over in the Mediterranean Sea, millions of tonnes of plastic enter the sea each year, turning the region into a dangerous plastic trap. Europe is one of the largest plastic producers in the world, but only a third of all this waste is recycled. This has led to both plastics and microplastics posing as grave threats to the sea. Microplastics have reached record levels of concentration, almost four times higher than in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!
Did you know that the Coral Triangle is home to more coral species than anywhere else on Earth? You can find amazing wildlife, including 6 out of 7 of the world's marine turtle species! But our reefs are vulnerable to the growing problem of plastic pollution too.
