A few facts

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A Dutch study in the North Sea of fulmar seabirds concluded 95 per cent of the birds had plastic in their stomachs. More than 1600 pieces were found in the stomach of one bird in Belgium.

The United Nations Environment Program says plastic is accountable for the deaths of more than a million seabirds and more than 100,000 marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and seals every year.

Since his first encounter with the gyre in 1997, Moore created the Algalita Marine Research Foundation to help study the problem. Canadian filmmaker Ian Connacher joined Moore last year to film the garbage patch for his documentary, I Am Plastic.

“The most menacing part is those little bits of plastic start looking like food for certain animals, or the filter feeders don’t have any choice, they just pick them up,” noted Connacher.

Perhaps an even bigger problem is hiding beneath the surface of the islands of garbage. Greenpeace reports that about 70 per cent of the plastic that makes it to the ocean sinks to the bottom, where it then smothers marine life on the ocean floor. Dutch scientists have found 600,000 tons of discarded plastic on the bottom of the North Sea alone.

A study by the Japanese geochemist Hideshige Takada and his colleagues at Tokyo University in 2001 found that plastic polymers soak up the resilient poisons such as DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls. The researchers found that non-water-soluble toxic chemicals can be found in plastic in levels as high as a million times their concentration in water. As small pieces of plastic are mistaken for fish eggs and other food by marine life, these toxins end up at the dinner table. But even without the extra toxins, eating plastic is hazardous to health.

see http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/are-there-reall.html

deformed turtle

This one is for Martin. And here’s a  film of another deformed turtle – 6 pack plastic holders are responsible here

You think they would know what plastic looked like – lord knows there’s enough of it in our oceans

Yeah and here are some stupid ducks choking on plastic

Washed ashore

Just a Drop in the Sea, Eigg Beach Originally uploaded by suewhite

100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die every year from ingestion and/or entanglement with marine litter. 
A plastic bottle can take over 450 years to degrade.
Over 50% of all marine litter is plastic
15% of marine litter is on the beach, 15% on the surface of the sea and the remaining 70% on the seabed just waiting for a big storm to bring onto our beaches.
It is estimated that 2 billion sanitary items are flushed down the toilet every year in the UK.
Studies show there are over 2000 items of litter for every 1km of UK coastline, that’s 1 bit of litter for every 50cm of beach surveyed! 
Over 35% of all the marine litter on the beach is left by beach users!
Over 170 different marine species have been found with plastics in their stomachs.
Estimates for cleaning up beaches around the UK range between £14 million and £157 million annually!
These stats were taken fronm the Surfers Against Sewage website

Local authorities, industry and coastal communities spend approximately £14 million a year to clean up beach litter in England and Wales alone (Environment Agency, 2004).

Annually the UK and maritime leisure industry is worth up to £11 billion.

Harbour authorities also have to pay to keep navigation channels free of litter – a survey of 42 harbour authorities reported that £26,100 is spent per year in some ports to clear fouled propellers and remove debris from the water

Some estimates put the cost of marine litter to the fishing industry at over £23 million a year (Environment Agency, 2002).

If you want to know more about the state of British beaches got to adopt a beach

How much rubbish is on your beach?

April 18, 2008 and the Ocean Conservancy released a report based on their beach cleanup efforts. On one day 380000 volunteers picked up six million pounds of rubbish data sheets ahowing rubbish break down by type location and source are available to download

Why is there all that plastic on the beach…

Hot diggory dog, From 2009 those big ships will not be allowed to dump non-biodegradable, lasts-for- ever plastic in the Mediterranean where it will inevitably wash up on our beaches.

Why have they ever been allowed to do it at all??

As of May 1, 2009, ships will no longer be allowed to dump waste into the Mediterranean. The new rules, announced by the United Nations Environment Programme, ban the dumping of “all plastics, including but not limited to synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets and plastic garbage bags” as well as “all other garbage, including paper products, rags, glass, metal, bottles, crockery, dunnage (loose material used in ship storage), lining and packing materials.”

see any number of blogs for more or try treehugger for more

But 80% of plastic rubbish in the sea comes from the land

You still have to give it up plastic that is