{"id":21214,"date":"2015-03-02T15:41:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T19:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?p=21214"},"modified":"2021-11-10T16:41:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:41:27","slug":"estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm","title":{"rendered":"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually"},"content":{"rendered":"

A study by scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara estimates that 8 million metric tons of plastic enters the oceans each year from land, according to a release. In addition to working to quantify the amount of plastic that washes into oceans in the work, researchers also provide a roadmap for developing solutions to the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing the average density of uncompacted plastic waste, 8 million metric tons \u2014 the midpoint of our estimate \u2014 would cover an area 34 times the size of Manhattan ankle-deep in plastic waste,\u201d said Roland Geyer, associate professor of environmental science and management at UC Santa Barbara, in a statement. \u201cEight million metric tons is a vast amount of material by any measure. It is how much plastic was produced worldwide in 1961.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the plastic problem is owed to a lag between proper waste management practices that didn\u2019t begin until the 1970s, according to a release from the University of Georgia, which had experts contributing in the research. Around that time, the issue of plastic pollution was also first noted as a concern in scientific literature.<\/p>\n

\"Infographic

Infographic showing plastic waste inputs from land going into the ocean in 2010. (Credit: Lindsay Robinson, University of Georgia)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt is incredible how far we have come in environmental engineering, advancing recycling and waste management systems to protect human health and the environment, in a relatively short amount of time,\u201d said Kara Law, research professor at the Sea Education Association, in a statement. \u201cNobody has had a good sense of the size of that problem until now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers made the estimates by looking at debris entering the ocean from land, sea and other pathways. From there, they put together rough figures that they worked into models relating to each source of plastic. These revealed that mismanaging waste had become the biggest contributor of plastic, they found.<\/p>\n

The models are useful in quantifying the issue, but also in helping to find its solutions, scientists say. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re being overwhelmed by our waste,\u201d said Law. \u201cBut our framework allows us to also examine mitigation strategies like improving global solid waste management and reducing plastic in the waste stream. Potential solutions will need to coordinate local and global efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

These include steps like working to reduce plastic in the stream of waste that we generate, improving the infrastructure of waste management facilities to remove plastic, and increasing the plastic we catch before it gets into the ocean.<\/p>\n

The study laid out the Top 5 countries responsible for plastic pollution in our oceans, according to Mother Jones: China is No. 1, followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The full investigation is published in the journal Science. <\/p>\n

Top image:\u00a0Plastic pollution lines a beach. (Credit: Timothy Townsend)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers model the world\u2019s waste to estimate that 8 million metric tons of plastic wash into the oceans annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":21207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,44],"tags":[60,347,136],"class_list":["post-21214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-articles","category-oceans-coasts","tag-featured","tag-oceans-coasts","tag-pollution"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\nEstimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers model the world\u2019s waste to estimate that 8 million metric tons of plastic wash into the oceans annually.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers model the world\u2019s waste to estimate that 8 million metric tons of plastic wash into the oceans annually.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Environmental Monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-02T19:41:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T20:41:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/plastic_ocean.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Kelly\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\"},\"headline\":\"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-02T19:41:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T20:41:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm\"},\"wordCount\":469,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/plastic_ocean.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"featured\",\"Oceans & Coasts\",\"pollution\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured Articles\",\"Oceans & Coasts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm\",\"name\":\"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/plastic_ocean.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-02T19:41:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T20:41:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\"},\"description\":\"Researchers model the world\u2019s waste to estimate that 8 million metric tons of plastic wash into the oceans annually.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/plastic_ocean.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/plastic_ocean.jpg\",\"width\":420,\"height\":470,\"caption\":\"Plastic pollution lines a beach. (Credit: Timothy Townsend)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Environmental Monitor\",\"description\":\"Application and technology news for environmental professionals\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\",\"name\":\"Daniel Kelly\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Kelly\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/daniel-kelly\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually","description":"Researchers model the world\u2019s waste to estimate that 8 million metric tons of plastic wash into the oceans annually.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually","og_description":"Researchers model the world\u2019s waste to estimate that 8 million metric tons of plastic wash into the oceans annually.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm","og_site_name":"Environmental Monitor","article_published_time":"2015-03-02T19:41:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-10T20:41:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":420,"height":470,"url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/plastic_ocean.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Daniel Kelly","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Kelly","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Kelly","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7"},"headline":"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually","datePublished":"2015-03-02T19:41:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-10T20:41:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm"},"wordCount":469,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/plastic_ocean.jpg","keywords":["featured","Oceans & Coasts","pollution"],"articleSection":["Featured Articles","Oceans & Coasts"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm","name":"Estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans annually","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/plastic_ocean.jpg","datePublished":"2015-03-02T19:41:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-10T20:41:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7"},"description":"Researchers model the world\u2019s waste to estimate that 8 million metric tons of plastic wash into the oceans annually.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/estimated-8-million-metric-tons-of-plastic-enter-oceans-annually.htm#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/plastic_ocean.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/plastic_ocean.jpg","width":420,"height":470,"caption":"Plastic pollution lines a beach. (Credit: Timothy Townsend)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/","name":"Environmental Monitor","description":"Application and technology news for environmental professionals","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7","name":"Daniel Kelly","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Kelly"},"url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/author\/daniel-kelly"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21214"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33896,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214\/revisions\/33896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}