Plastic is a synthetic organic polymer made from petroleum with properties ideally suited for a wide variety of applications, including packaging, building and construction, household and sports equipment, vehicles, electronics and agriculture. Plastic is cheap, lightweight, strong and malleable. Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year, half of which is used to design single-use items such as shopping bags, cups and straws.<\/p>
At least 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. Floating plastic debris are currently the most abundant items of marine litter. Waste plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. Plastic has been detected on shorelines of all the continents, with more plastic materials found near popular tourist destinations and densely populated areas.<\/p>
The main sources of marine plastic are land-based, from urban and storm runoff, sewer overflows, beach visitors, inadequate waste disposal and management, industrial activities, construction and illegal dumping. Ocean-based plastic originates mainly from the fishing industry, nautical activities and aquaculture.<\/p>
Under the influence of solar UV radiation, wind, currents and other natural factors, plastic\u00a0fragments into small particles, termed microplastics (particles smaller than 5 mm) or nanoplastics (particles smaller than 100 nm).<\/p>
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Turtles are shown to have eaten plastic bags, perhaps mistaking them for jellyfish prey.\u00a0 In fact,\u00a052% of all individual sea turtles are predicted to have eaten plastic<\/strong>. This is particularly concerning for the Leatherback Turtle (Vulnerable, IUCN Red List), which feeds almost exclusively on jellyfish.<\/p> Leatherback turtles are visual predators that often hunt in murky waters. Under such conditions, it would be easy to mistake a plastic bag for a jellyfish.<\/p> Loggerhead sea turtles are now thought to sense a chemical called DMS to locate suitable foraging areas. While DMS is usually associated with high densities of phytoplankton and zooplankton,\u00a0we now know that plastic can start to smell of DMS after just a few weeks in the ocean.\u00a0Which could mean turtles are attracted to areas of high plastic density<\/strong><\/p> Ingesting a single item of plastic has a\u00a022% chance of killing a sea turtle<\/strong>, rising to 50% after just 14 items. It can take as long as 6 months for a 10cm square sheet of plastic to pass through their digestive tracts.<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> Sources: https:\/\/www.iucn.org\/<\/a><\/p>