plastic pollution: Facts & Related Content

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Did You Know?

  • Every year 18 billlion pounds of plastic seeps into oceans from coasts.
  • A glass bottle can take roughly one million years to degrade in the environment.
  • Some organisms thrive off discarded plastic, forming a new type of ecosystem called a "plastisphere".
  • Scientists have found plastic bags at the bottom of the Mariana Trench 36,000 feet below sea level.
  • The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an island of discarded plastic that is now triple the size of France.

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