It’s dangerous to thinking that it does. Recycling plastic doesn’t solve plastic pollution. What’s more, with plastics taking one hundred years to break down within the ocean, it’s causing issues we seemingly can’t recover for generations to come It gives people the impression that “it’s okay to use plastic because I recycle it”. We've covered the dangers plastic ties can pose to seals, how plastic bags look like food to sea turtles and how over a million seabirds are killed by it each year. This once innocuous material that is very much ingrained in our daily lives is damaging our seas and putting ocean wildlife as risk. Plastic: it’s a big problem for Australia. Yes, imperfect action is better than no action, but refusing and reusing plastic is infinitely better. That simply keeps the plastic problem going. Fixing planet plastic: How we'll really solve our waste problem. Today, on World Oceans Day, we need to talk about plastic. In this practical guide, you’ll discover loads of easy ways to reduce the use of plastic in your life. Environment Can plastic recycling solve the fast-fashion problem? The bad news: Sea life can’t tell the difference between plastic and food. Written by Tom Morris, CNN It's estimated that, since the 1950s, humanity has produced 8.3 billion tons of plastic. That simply keeps the plastic problem going. Help Solve the Plastic Problem. Jakarta's waterways are choked with plastic trash. The way we currently design, produce and consume plastics is … From bag bans to bacterial mulchers, many solutions are touted for the plastic waste crisis. Its almost impossible to get through a day without using it. This page summarises reports, scientific papers and news articles that detail the devasting impacts plastics and litter are having on our oceans and waterways. Can design solve the world's plastic problem? Larger pieces of plastic can also damage the digestive systems of sea birds and whales, and can be potentially fatal. Plastic bags, once consumed, cause internal blockages and usually result in death. Unsightly plastic bottles, bags and other trash give just a hint of the largely unseen problem of plastic pollution. From bag bans to bacterial mulchers, many solutions are touted for the plastic waste crisis. More Recycling Won't Solve Plastic Pollution. That’s causing major problems for our planet. The Plastic Tide is rising, more and more marine litter and plastics are being dumped into our ocean. Scientists have found tiny bits of it throughout the ocean. It’s dangerous to thinking that it does. But to talk about the plastic problem, we first have to understand its scale. Plastic is really useful and we use it every day. Plastic is everywhere! In Kuala Lumpur, instances of open dumping line the high-speed train route to the airport. As this infographic by the Rethink Plastic alliance puts it: “plastic is one of the fastest growing pollutants in the world. It’s a lie that wasteful consumers cause the problem and that changing our individual habits can fix it So, while bio-based and biodegradable plastics may look like the perfect solution to our plastic problem, they are actually a false “cure”. Yes, imperfect action is better than no action, but refusing and reusing plastic is infinitely better. These plastics might not solve our marine plastic pollution problem, but they are well suited to tackling another big environmental problem: food waste. Fixing planet plastic: How we'll really solve our waste problem. Cleaning up our act. It gives people the impression that “it’s okay to use plastic because I recycle it”. Recycling plastic doesn’t solve plastic pollution. Every big city in developing Asia faces this problem. But what happens after we throw it away is causing a big problem for our planet. * Your actions, however small, can make a big difference. But, the reality is that marine plastic is a much larger problem than this.