https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/ocean-trash-525-trillion-pieces-and-counting-big-questions-remain/
The numbers are staggering: There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea. Scientists call these statistics the "wow factor" of ocean trash. The tallies, published last year in three separate

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64889284
Oceans littered with 171 trillion plastic pieces. More than 171 trillion pieces of plastic are now estimated to be floating in the world's oceans, according to scientists. Plastic kills fish and

https://ourworldindata.org/how-much-plastic-waste-ends-up-in-the-ocean
That means that around 0.5% of world's plastic waste ends up in the oceans. Exactly how much plastic waste enters the oceans is still uncertain. Early studies produced larger figures, estimating that ocean plastics could be around 8 million tonnes per year.2. More recent research - with improved methods - estimates that this figure is

https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
Even just in the last two decades, global plastic production has doubled. Around 0.5% of plastic waste ends up in the ocean. The world produces around 350 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Estimates vary, but recent high-quality studies suggest that between 1 and 2 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans annually.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/marinedebris/plastics-in-the-ocean.html
The problem with plastic. While it's tough to say exactly how much plastic is in the ocean, scientists think about 8 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010. That's the weight of nearly 90 aircraft carriers, and the problem continues to grow.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/08/world/ocean-plastic-pollution-climate-intl/index.html
The world's oceans are polluted by a "plastic smog" made up of an estimated 171 trillion plastic particles that if gathered would weigh around 2.3 million tons, according to a new study.

https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/plastics-in-the-ocean/
Plastic in the ocean is a people problem, which means people like you can help solve it. For more than 35 years, Ocean Conservancy has brought together more than 17 million volunteers from over 150 countries to participate in our annual International Coastal Cleanup®. In that time, volunteers have picked up more than 348 million pounds of

https://www.iucn.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/marine-plastic-pollution-issues-brief_nov21-april-2024-small-update_0.pdf
APRIL 2024MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION• Over 400 million tons of plastic are produced every year for us. n a wide variety of applications. • At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from s. ace waters to deep-sea sediments. • Marine species ingest or are entangled

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/07/climate/plastic-pollution-oceans.html
The Latest. There's less plastic pollution flowing into the ocean from land than scientists previously thought, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. The

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/plastic-trash-in-seas-will-nearly-triple-by-2040-if-nothing-done
July 23, 2020. • 10 min read. The amount of plastic trash that flows into the oceans every year is expected to nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million metric tons. That single, incomprehensibly

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/worlds-plastic-pollution-crisis-explained/
Production increased exponentially, from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015. Production is expected to double by 2050. Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations. That's the equivalent of setting five garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64889284
Oceans littered with 171 trillion plastic pieces. More than 171 trillion pieces of plastic are now estimated to be floating in the world's oceans, according to scientists. Plastic kills fish and

https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics
Yet it emits 100 times as much plastic to the ocean each year (200 to 300 tonnes versus only 3 to 5 tonnes). 7 The Ciliwung River emits much more plastic to the ocean, despite being much smaller because the basin's waste is generated very close to the river (meaning the plastic gets into the river network in the first place) and the river

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/what-marine-debris/plastic
Once plastic is in the ocean, it can be extremely difficult to understand where it comes from, or how much there is out there. A study by Borrelle et al. estimated that in 2016, as much as 23 million metric tons of plastic waste entered the ocean and waterways around the world. This number may feel huge, but it's not the whole picture.

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/20/904195415/study-dives-deeper-into-how-much-plastic-is-in-the-oceans
But scientists still don't know exactly how much so-called micro plastic is in the ocean. There have been rough estimates. PABORTSAVA: It was about, I think, between 5 and 12 millions tons went

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/8/how-much-plastic-is-in-our-oceans-infographic
The Philippines is believed to be the source of more than a third (36.4 percent) of all plastic waste in the ocean followed by India (12.9 percent), Malaysia (7.5 percent), China (7.2 percent) and

https://oceanliteracy.unesco.org/plastic-pollution-ocean/
Plastic waste makes up 80% of all marine pollution and around 8 to 10 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year. Research states that, by 2050, plastic will likely outweigh all fish in the sea. In the last ten years, we have produced more plastic products than in the previous century. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/marine-microplastics-pollution-ocean-australia/
Ocean. Follow. There could be 14.4 million tonnes of microplastics at the bottom of the sea, new research says. The findings show there's more than twice the amount of plastic on the seabed than on the water's surface. Scientists made the estimate after examining an area off Australia's south coast. The amount of microplastics in sediment

https://www.science.org/content/article/here-s-how-much-plastic-enters-ocean-each-year
The scientists figured roughly 15% to 40% of that littered or dumped plastic enters the ocean each year. Adding together all 192 countries in the world with a significant coastal population, the researchers report online today in Science that about 4 million to 12 million metric tons of plastic washed offshore in 2010 alone, or about 1.5% to 4.

https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-plastics-in-the-ocean/
By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish (by weight). [8] The chances of disease on a coral reef are enhanced by 22-fold by plastics. In 2018, a huge survey of the 159 coral reefs across Asia-Pacific region showed that over 11.1 billion plastic particles are entangling the corals, and this number is estimated to

https://theconversation.com/most-plastics-are-made-from-fossil-fuels-and-end-up-in-the-ocean-but-marine-microbes-cant-degrade-them-new-research-230530
PE is the most manufactured plastic type in the world. It accounts for 103.9 million metric tonnes (mmt) per year, followed by PET (65.4 mmt) and PVC (50.5 mmt). However, globally only 9% of all

https://phys.org/news/2024-06-plastics-fossil-fuels-ocean-marine.html
This map shows the distribution of plastic pollution across the ocean, with higher concentrations in the main oceanic gyres. Credit: Environmental Microbiome (2024). DOI: 10.1186/s40793-024-00575-4

https://ourworldindata.org/where-does-plastic-accumulate
The world now produces more than 380 million tonnes of plastic every year, which could end up as pollutants, entering our natural environment and oceans.. Of course, not all of our plastic waste ends up in the ocean, most ends up in landfills: it's estimated that the share of global plastic waste that enters the ocean is around 3%. 1 In 2010 - the year for which we have the latest

https://www.rts.com/blog/plastic-pollution-in-the-ocean-facts-and-statistics/
How Much Plastic Is in The Ocean Now? There is an estimated 75 to 199 million tons of plastic waste currently in our oceans, with a further 33 billion pounds of plastic entering the marine environment every single year. This constant flow of plastic production is simply too much for existing waste management and recycling infrastructure.

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-much-plastic-there-ocean
More than 5 trillion plastic particles weighing 268,940 tons are estimated to be floating in Earth's oceans. The new estimate, published today in PLOS ONE, is based on models of floating plastics data gathered from a series of 680 surface net tows and 891 visual surveys from oceans around the world.Currents and winds push the plastics around the world's oceans, concentrating many of the pieces

https://www.undp.org/blog/why-undp-tackling-developmental-dimensions-plastic-pollution
Our oceans have now become the world's dumping site for the exponential growth of the use and waste of single use plastics and are quickly turning into plastic soup. At present, there is no systematic assessment of the accurate economic loss. Nonetheless, there are estimates that under 2011 levels;

https://www.routledge.com/Plastics-in-the-Oceans-Towards-Sustainable-Solutions/Wertz-Bedue-Perez/p/book/9781032873954
Increasing plastic pollution, particularly in oceans, calls for a fundamental shift towards future-proof plastics throughout the circular economy. In a landmark move in 2022, the United Nations adopted a historic resolution to craft an International Legally Binding Instrument to tackle plastic pollution. In line with this global initiative, Plastics in the Oceans investigates the problem of

https://www.nri.org/latest/news/2024/plight-of-our-oceans-addressing-plastic-pollution-for-a-sustainable-future
However, ocean health is seeing a declining trend due to plastic and chemical pollution. Plastic pollution of oceans is by far the most concerning challenge. Scientific estimates indicate that more than 171 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the world's oceans. As per the Economist Back to Blue initiative, between 1950 and 2015, 8.3

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/explore/the-ocean-and-climate-change/
The ocean is warming. Rising greenhouse gas concentrations not only warm the air, but the ocean, too. Research shows that around 90 percent of the excess heat from global warming is being absorbed by the ocean. Ocean heat has steadily risen since measurements began in 1955, breaking records in 2023.All this added heat has led to more frequent and intense marine heat waves.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-researchers-gather-in-corpus-christi-for-texas-plastic-pollution-symposium/ar-BB1ktRlG
The plastic is everywhere — in the oceans, on the beaches and in the human body. ... Ananthanarayanam said that there is so much plastic today globally because so much oil is being produced.