QUICK FACTS:
- 99.9% of all floating debris is plastic of some form.
- 29% of the 269k tonnes of plastic on the surface of the oceans are in the Pacific Ocean surrounding Hawai’i.
- Discarded derelict fishing gear comprises 52% of the plastic mass, of which 47% are hard plastics.
- Although micro plastics are most abundant by count, 92% of the plastics are still large objects in terms of mass.
- Plastics are typically buoyant. Less dense than water, they are suspended in the upper water column and float on surface waters.
- If ocean plastic pollution had been stopped by 2020, macro and micro plastics would persist in our surface waters for decades.
- The majority of ocean plastics that wash up along our coastlines emit toxic chemicals while they bake in the sun, become brittle and break down into micro plastics that if buried can later resurface causing further damage.
