Plastic waste entering oceans could triple by 2040, current measures not enough

Plastic waste flowing into our oceans could triple by the next 20 years as per a new study. According to reports, while some countries have made efforts to remove plastic from oceans and clean them, they have only managed to make a small dent as compared to the mountains of plastic and plastic waste that can be found in the oceans.

A worsening crisis

According to reports, countries across the globe can use a wide variety of methods such as restricting the sale and use of single-use plastic materials and mandating alternatives but even with these methods, a recent report states that it will only be successful in cutting down the plastic levels by a little less than half the current levels.

Previous estimates believed that 8 metric tons of plastic found its way into oceans every year but a newly published paper in the journal Science has refuted that claim and said the number is much higher at 11 metric tons each year. As per the study, if this trend continues and nothing is done by 2040, the amount of plastic entering the oceans each year will reach 29 metric tonnes.

The study also showed that taking into account all the measures that countries or governments are taking and given that they are moderately successful, they would only reduce the projected volume of plastic by 7 per cent.

This problem has also been exasperated by the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to an increase in the production and use of single-use PPE which finds itself back into the oceans.

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Bollywood actor Esha Gupta recently took to her Instagram to share a video and an environmentally conscious message. She uploaded one personal video and two pictures from a media publication where she talked about how bad single-use PPE was for the environment at large.

She wrote about how there will be more masks in the ocean than jellyfish in the Mediterranean Sea, according to Laurent Lombard, diver and founder of the nonprofit Operation Clean Sea. She also explained more about the Operation and how they have been actively finding COVID-19 related waste in the ocean. Single-use masks, sanitiser bottles, and more are now being found while cleaning up the ocean.

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Read: Esha Gupta Says There'll Soon Be More COVID-19 Waste Than Jellyfish In Oceans, Watch