Alexander Parkes invented plastic in 1862. Plastic had entered the mainstream in 1950 and the production of plastic had increased significantly in this time due to World War II. By the early 1970s, plastic pellets being found in the North Atlantic became common which led to more research being done about how much plastic was on the seafloor and its impact on animals. In 1990, scientists were discovering that plastic was polluting our oceans and 60-80% of that plastic was going nowhere. Sea life and the marine environment were being destroyed by plastic. By 1997, Charles Moore discovered the world’s largest collection of floating garbage, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In 2002, Bangladesh discovered that their drains were blocked by plastic during a severe flood which caused them to become the first country to ban plastic bags. Shortly after, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags in 2007. Striking footage of how ocean plastics impact ocean animals increased global concern in 2017.

Millions of animals are killed each year by plastic. This issue affects marine life, specifically seabirds, sea turtles, and seals, from ingesting plastic or being entangled in it. Plastic pollution, although mainly affects marine life, can also have an impact on people. If plastic gets into oceans and breaks into small enough pieces, people who go swimming and accidentally get water in their mouths are at risk of swallowing plastic. These small pieces of plastic are called microplastics. They are very easy to not notice when swimming in the ocean due to their size so when one accidentally swallows some ocean water they will have no idea they are swallowing micro sized pieces of plastic. This plastic inhalation can lead to hormone-related cancers, infertility, and neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and autism. Plastic pollution happens by people not properly disposing of plastic which then leads to rainwater and wind carrying it into streams, rivers, and through drains which then lead to the ocean. Governments, businesses, and innovators are the perpetrators of the issue. Businesses benefit because they are able to use as much plastic as they want without having to face the consequences like marine life does. The root cause of this issue starts from producers that produce plastic and other non-sustainable materials. These producers choose to produce plastic because it is cheaper than sustainable materials like wood, bamboo, glass, and more. Consumers then buy products that are made from plastic or shipped in plastic. Littering then occurs because it is easy and quick for consumers to just throw the plastic away wherever even if it is an improper disposal. This leads to plastic ending up in oceans. This plastic that ends up in the oceans then takes hundreds of years to biodegrade. The graph to the left shows how plastic ends up in the ocean.