Marine pollution - percentage of plastics vs. other materials

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What is the proportion of plastics vs. other material as per the data collected during the expedition?

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2 Answers

  1. Dear Elsa, thank you for the invitation and congratulations for the web page. According to UNEP, from the 80 million tonnes (?!?) of plastic floating in our Ocean, 80% is plastic, from which another 80% have land-base origin. I will now look at "our" data and results. I am attending the MOOC on Marine Litter by UNEP and Open University of the Netherlands and the Executive Director of the UNEP, Mr. Achim Steiner, mentioned the Race for Water Foundation, which made me very (more!) proud. The MOOC is being very good and I'm looking forward to learn more. best to All. HR

  2. On each island visited during the Odyssey, the debris collected was mostly composed of plastics. So far, from the Azores to Rodrigues the plastic percentage vary from 70% to 95%. Top 10 items are hard plastic fragments, bottle or container caps, ropes and nets, foamed fragments, plastic bottles, film fragments, containers, personal care products, fishing lures and lines and lighters. Another material which stood out is rubber, coming from flip-flops or shoes. Huge quantities were found on Hawaii, Guam, Palau and Rodrigues. Metal and glass were also found, mostly pieces of glass bottles and metal cans.