Pollution - Cleaning Up Plastic in the Oceans

"For more than a decade, scientists have warned that humankind is leaving so much plastic in the natural environment that future archaeologists will be able to mark this era by the synthetic waste that was left behind - in short, the Plastic Age". 

- John Briley, Nov. 16th, 2020.

Luckily, there's still time to change this! Be a part of the solution. Use the resources below to research and create your own solutions to "the plastic problem".

Websites:

• BBC News - Ocean Plastic: How Tech Is Being Used to Clean Up Waste Problem: The 28-year-old founder of non-profit environmental organisation The Ocean Cleanup has been working on ways to filter plastic waste out of the Pacific Ocean for nearly 10 years.

• CNN Business - A Floating Device Created to Clean Up Plastic from the Ocean Is Finally Doin Its Job, Organizers Say: A huge trash-collecting system designed to clean up plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean is finally picking up plastic, its inventor announced Wednesday.

• Columbia Climate School - Climate, Earth, and Society - How Do We Clean Up All That Ocean Plastic?

• Ellen MacArthur Foundation: a charity committed to creating a circular economy, which is designed to eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. It’s an economic system that delivers better outcomes for people, and the environment.

• The Ocean CleanUp: a non-profit organization, developing and scaling technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. Their aim is to put themselves out of business once the oceans are clean.

• Ocean Conservancy: Working with you to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges. Together, we create evidence-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it.

• Ocean Conservancy - Fighting for Trash Free Seas: Bringing together passionate ocean lovers and helping them contribute to a vision for Trash Free Seas

• The Pew Charitable Trusts - Breaking the Plastic Wave: Top Findings for Preventing Plastic Pollution: First-of-its-kind modeling analysis describes actions needed to stop plastic from entering the ocean.

• ReSource Plastic: Closes the "how" gap for companies seeking to turn their commitments into meaningful, measurable action.

• Science - Evaluating Scenarios toward Zero Plastic Pollution: Plastic pollution is a pervasive and growing problem. To estimate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce plastic pollution, we modeled stocks and flows of municipal solid waste and four sources of microplastics through the global plastic system for five scenarios between 2016 and 2040.

• Systemiq - Breaking the Plastic Wave: A comprehensive assessment of pathways towards stopping ocean plastic pollution.

• Systemiq - Indonesia Unveils Action Plan to Stop Ocean Plastic Pollution: Indonesia has released one of the world’s most ambitious plans to combat plastic pollution and waste.

• UNESCO - Ocean Literacy Portal - The Role of Organizations for a Cleaner Ocean: In this article, we will look at all the amazing organizations that make the best of people’s skills and expertise for saving our seas and making a difference in the creation of a more sustainable future.

• United Nations - Department of Economic and Social Affairs - The Ocean Cleanup (Non-governmental Organization (NGO): a non-profit project developing and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic.

• WWF - No Plastic in Nature: A Practical Guide for Business Engagement: Provides an evidence-based guide for companies seeking to employ effective strategies for mitigating plastic waste within their business.

• WWF - Press Release: WWF launches activation hub to help prevent 10 million metric tons of global plastic waste.