[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It is alarming! Millions of disposable masks we deployed against Covid-19 have run into the oceans, creating a situation when there are more masks than jellyfish in the seas.
Pristine waters that we loved to gaze for hours are now teeming with discarded trash that is ugly and stinking, threatening to destroy marine life, and later us.
Sure, the destruction of marine life was going on for decades, but the COVID era made it worse, beating back the hard-earned efforts of preservationists. Heavy usage of masks and PPEs (personal protective equipment) which were eventually dumped into the oceans and added to the tons of plastic already there, made it hell for marine life.
Here are a few bare facts staring us on the face:
- 25 trillion pieces of debris are contaminating the ocean. As much as 269,000 tons of this mass is floating on the surface.
- 15 to 2.41 million tons of junk is currently streaming into the oceans each year from rivers.
- The mass of the trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), floating in the north-central Pacific Ocean, is estimated to be approximately 80,000 tons.
- 570,000 tons of wreck flows into the Mediterranean annually. It amounts to dumping 33,800 bottles every minute into the ocean. …Read More
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