The combinations of plastic waste and oil in our oceans are destroying the creatures that live in these waters. The devastating impact plastic and oil have on ecosystems can be traced through several different interrelated facts. For instance, the creation of plastic uses as much oil as the aviation industry. As a result, by the end of 2015 the plastic industry took up roughly eight percent of all oil production, with a projected rise to twenty percent by the year 2050. Unfortunately, nearly eight million tonnes of plastic leak into the Earth’s oceans every year, along with approximately 706 million gallons of resulting waste oil.
The presence of plastic and toxins can be found within animals throughout the world’s food chain. With only fourteen percent of plastic packaging sent for recycling, an estimated forty percent of all global packaging material is placed in landfills, which is then leaked into the environment. Oil waste furthers environmental problems with the greatest damage caused, not by accidental spills and leaks, but by chronic and careless habits of improper disposal of used motor oil.
