Plastic is destroying our oceans

The ocean has almost become a plastic world, said Li Daoji, an oceanographer and professor at East China Normal University. In a weekend lecture at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Li said 10 to 20 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the oceans.

More than 700 marine species get trapped by or eat plastic waste. About 90 percent of seabirds have been found with plastic in their stomach. And every seabird will have plastic by 2050, he said.

“There is a massive cognitive mistake that ocean pollution won’t threaten our health,” he said. “Actually, plastic waste will get smashed and turn to microplastics, tiny plastic pieces that are smaller than 5 millimeters, which can harm marine life and our health if we eat polluted fish.”

Li called on everyone not to throw away plastic after the first use.

“We should reduce over-consumption of plastics,” he said.

By 2015, at least 6.9 billion tons of plastic waste was produced worldwide, but only 9 percent is recycled, 12 percent is burned and the rest piles up.

Half the plastics in the world were produced in the past 15 years. Every year, more than a trillion plastic bags are used.

The average bag is used for 15 minutes and then thrown away. But they last at least 450 years, he said.

An exhibition featuring photos, installations and paintings is underway in the museum’s temporary exhibition hall on the third floor to display marine plastic pollution. It runs through July 28.