http:\/\/news.uga.edu\/releases\/article\/new-science-paper-magnitude-plastic-waste-going-into-ocean-0215\/<\/p>\n
New Science paper calculates magnitude of plastic waste going into the ocean
\n8 MILLION METRIC TONS OF PLASTIC ENTER THE OCEANS PER YEAR<\/p>\n
February 12, 2015<\/p>\n
Writer: Stephanie Schupska
\nContact: Jenna Jambeck ,<\/p>\n
Athens, Ga. – A plastic grocery bag cartwheels down the beach until a
\ngust of wind spins it into the ocean. In 192 coastal countries, this
\nscenario plays out over and over again as discarded beverage bottles,
\nfood wrappers, toys and other bits of plastic make their way from
\nestuaries, seashores and uncontrolled landfills to settle in the world’s
\nseas.<\/p>\n
How much mismanaged plastic waste is making its way from land to ocean
\nhas been a decades-long guessing game. Now, the University of Georgia’s
\nJenna Jambeck and her colleagues in the National Center for Ecological
\nAnalysis and Synthesis working group have put a number on the global
\nproblem.<\/p>\n
Their study, reported in the Feb. 13 edition of the journal Science,
\nfound between 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic entered the
\nocean in 2010 from people living within 50 kilometers of the coastline.
\nThat year, a total of 275 million metric tons of plastic waste was
\ngenerated in those 192 coastal countries.<\/p>\n
Jambeck, an assistant professor of environmental engineering in the UGA
\nCollege of Engineering and the study’s lead author, explains the amount
\nof plastic moving from land to ocean each year using 8 million metric
\ntons as the midpoint: “Eight million metric tons is the equivalent to
\nfinding five grocery bags full of plastic on every foot of coastline in
\nthe 192 countries we examined.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
http:\/\/news.uga.edu\/releases\/article\/new-science-paper-magnitude-plastic-waste-going-into-ocean-0215\/ New Science paper calculates magnitude of plastic waste going into the ocean 8 MILLION METRIC TONS OF PLASTIC ENTER THE OCEANS PER YEAR February 12, 2015 Writer: Stephanie Schupska Contact: Jenna Jambeck , Athens, Ga. – A plastic grocery bag cartwheels down the beach until a gust of wind spins it into the ocean. In 192 coastal countries, this scenario plays out over and over again as discarded beverage bottles, food wrappers, toys and other bits of plastic make their way from estuaries, seashores and uncontrolled landfills to settle in the world’s seas. How much mismanaged plastic waste is making its way from land to ocean has been a decades-long guessing game. Now, the University of Georgia’s Jenna Jambeck and her colleagues in the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis working group have put a number on the global problem. Their study, reported in the Feb. 13 edition of the journal Science, found between 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010 from people living within 50 kilometers of the coastline. That year, a total of 275 million metric tons of plastic waste was generated in those 192 coastal countries. Jambeck, an assistant professor of environmental engineering in the UGA College of Engineering and the study’s lead author, explains the amount of plastic moving from land to ocean each year using 8 million metric tons as the midpoint: “Eight million metric tons is the equivalent to finding five grocery bags full of plastic on every foot of coastline in the 192 countries we examined.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3476,3488],"tags":[1585,1587,3335],"yoast_head":"\n