- Every piece of plastic that was ever produced still exists.
- Plastic production accounts for 8% of the world's oil reserves.
- Only 20% of the items found in the ocean can be linked to ocean-based sources. The remaining 80% is due to land-based sources.
- 5000 sq miles of the Gulf of Mexico was almost devoid of life in 2014, due to pollution.
- Fish in the North Pacific ingest 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic each year!
- 1 in 3 species of marine mammals have been found in marine debris.
- 100,000 marine creatures a year die from plastic entanglement, and those are the ones found.
- At least two-thirds of the world’s fish stocks are suffering from plastic ingestion.
- Approximately 1 million sea birds also die from eating or getting entangled in plastic.
- A conservative estimate is 8 million tons dumped in the ocean every year.
- 80% of plastic pollution in our oceans originates from just 5 countries.
- Plastic pollution does not respect international boundaries.
- According to the Container Recycling Institute, 100.7 billion plastic beverage bottles were sold in the U.S. in 2014, or 315 bottles per person.
- 57% of those were plastic water bottles: 57.3 billion sold in 2014.
- The process of producing bottled water requires around 6 times as much water per bottle as there is in the container. 14% of all litter comes from beverage containers. When caps and labels are considered, the number is higher.
- Additives in plastic have been shown to contain many endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
- Microplastics in the ocean are absorbing chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting persistent organic pollutants from the surrounding water.
- Plastic chemicals are entering the food chain.
Yes! Vinyl is composed of chlorine and ethylene. Vinyl can be made flexible, rigid or semi-liquid; clear or colorful, thick or thin – making it the world’s most versatile plastic material.
In 2014, U.S. vinyl resin production reached nearly 15 billion pounds!
Microbeads are tiny, non-biodegradable plastic beads, so tiny they slip through filters in water-treatment plants and sewage systems. They absorb chemicals, pesticides and other toxins.
Microbeads are used in hundreds of cosmetics, beauty/personal care products like facial scrubs, soaps, bath gels and toothpaste.
Microbeads can harm the environment and can be consumed by fish in rivers, lakes, and oceans, eventually ending up in our food supply.
In the U.S. H.R.1321 - Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 prohibits the sale and distribution of cosmetics that contain synthetic plastic microbeads. The law bans rinse-off products that contain intentionally-added plastic microbeads beginning January 1, 2018; and bans manufacturing of cosmetics containing microbeads beginning July 1, 2017.