World Oceans Day 2018 Focuses on Plastic Waste Contamination

The oceans of the planet are struggling with pollution today, and with continued warming of the oceans, the world sea level is likely to rise for centuries to come.

Oceans absorb around 30% carbon dioxide produced by humans, buffering the impacts of global warming.

“All around the world people are standing up an saying: enough”.

The estimated number of tons of plastic that enter oceans annually.

Bringing together the most recent data and scientific evidence on plastic use in Europe and the many ways in which it impacts marine life, the report presents a detailed roadmap of the urgent actions institutions, businesses and citizens need to take to stop plastic waste from reaching the sea.

Where Does All the Trash Go? Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands. The organization has formed alliances with major corporations including adidas, Anheuser Busch InBev (Corona), Intel; the United Nations; the Maldives and collaborators spanning the worlds of science, art, fashion, design, entertainment, sports, and space and ocean exploration.

An aerial view of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch might at first appear to be open water. You guessed it – plastic.

For World Oceans Day, events and initiatives are planned around the globe: from the challenge for individuals to pick up one piece of plastic litter (which would ultimately end up in an ocean) per day; to beach cleanups; to viewings of the 2016 feature-length documentary film “A Plastic Ocean”; and beyond. This builds on the Company’s leadership efforts in reducing its use of plastics in its packaging, increasing the amount of recycled plastic it is using and helping create the right infrastructures to enable recycling. The European Commission, for example, in late May proposed a strategy of banning some single-use plastic products and 90 percent targets for plastic bottle recycling.

All countries around the Mediterranean should boost recycling, ban single-use plastics and phase out the use of micro-plastics in detergents or cosmetics.

What can you do to help?

Going forward, we must promote sustainable use of oceans. Our collective resolve should aim at finding solutions to common problems.

Pakistan is blessed with a large coastline and a huge area of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) with abundance of Marine life. This clip shows exactly what can happen if your discarded plastic straw makes its way into the ocean.

“It’s critical for the survival of marine animals, and really all living organisms, that we take concrete and committed steps to reduce our use of plastic”, said Jens Currie of PWF.

While reading this, just glance through your premises and you’ll find at least 10 items made of plastic.

Get in the habit of asking for no straw before you even order a beverage. And, the virtual world plays a key role in spreading the word through hashtag campaigns like #beatplasticpollution, #nostrawchallenge and #saveourocean.