Plastic Pollution: We Need To Act Now
The Great Pacific garbage patch is a collection of plastic and floating trash with two enormous masses of ever-growing garbage. The patch consists of finger-sized bits of plastic – often microscopic particles, chemical sludge, wood pulp, and other debris trapped by the northern circulating currents of the Pacific Ocean known as the North Pacific Gyre.
The plastic concentration is estimated to be 100 kilograms per square kilometre. The patch currently covers 1.6 million square meters. Approximately 100 million tons of plastic is generated globally each year, of which 10 percent ends up in the world’s oceans according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
The problem has now been further exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic as “a new wave of plastic pollution” is littering beaches and public spaces in the form of disposable masks and gloves, said Jack Middleton from Surfers Against Sewage, a movement tackling plastic pollution.
The ASEAN Post Team
