Plastic production has increased globally by 20% in the last 5 years. Phew! Mahua Saha, a scientist from the Goa based National Institute of Oceanography has claimed that the plastic production across the world has gone up from 300 million metric tons (mmt) to 360 mmt. Out of this, 50 percent is single use plastic, 9 percent is reusable, and the rest is probably lying either on the land in the form of piles of garbage, on seashores as eye sores or worse still, lying on the seabed. Plastic is the predominant type of marine debris (pieces of something broken or rubbish) found on ocean beds.
However, pose a greater hazard to the environment. They come from degrading of larger debris like fishing nets and other plastic waste thrown into the ocean. It causes a threat to aquatic life, as sea animals like fish, shrimps, etc. consume them who are later eaten by human beings, thus affecting the entire food chain. The microplastics cause various health problems and we should take this matter seriously and take steps to curb them.