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Plastic Breaks Down More
Slowly than Most Other Ocean Debris
number aids in proper sorting for recycling, and some recycling
services will not accept all numbered plastics because they can
be diffi cult or dangerous to recycle. Still, it is ultimately up to in-
dustry and individuals to commit to recycling their used plastics.
And therein lies the problem. A 2017 study published in the jour-
nal Science Advances discovered that, of all the plastic ever cre- Estimated Number of Years for Selected
ated, only 9 percent has been recycled. According to the study, Items to Biodegrade in a Marine Environment
about 12 percent is incinerated, and the rest, 79 percent, ends up
in landfi lls or is simply left to litter the global environment.
Cigarettes 10 years
Plastic Trash Reaching the Oceans Plastic
Although most of the 79 percent of plastic not recycled or burned grocery bag 20 years
is disposed of on land, it does not always stay where it is put. Dur- Styrofoam cup 50 years
ing the transporting of plastic refuse by truck to a landfi ll, some
of the plastic can be dropped or blown away before it gets to its Aluminum cans 200 years
destination. Even after the load reaches the landfi ll, the wind can Plastic beverage
carry lightweight plastic trash far from the dumping site. Careless holder 400 years
disposal, rather than recycling, of used or unwanted plastic by
businesses and households also allows plastic refuse to enter the Disposable 450 years
diaper
environment.
Along with plastic bags, billions of other single-use plastic Plastic bottle 450 years
items are discarded every year. Organizations such as NOAA and Fishing line 600 years
Ocean Conservancy have compiled lists of the most abundant
plastic ocean pollutants. These include food wrappers, beverage
bottles, bottle caps, takeout containers, drink lids, straws, single-
use utensils, six-pack rings, and cigarette butts, which contain
plastic fi bers in their fi lters. Eventually, a lot of this trash fi nds its
way to the world’s oceans, creating an ecological disaster that
threatens to devastate the marine environment. One of the routes
that carries plastic pollution to the oceans is the rivers that ulti-
mately empty into the sea.
Rainstorms can drive plastic litter that has not been proper-
ly disposed of or recycled into nearby rivers. As hydrogeologist
Christian Schmidt notes, “The more waste . . . that is not dis-
posed of properly, the more plastic ultimately ends up in the river

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