fbpx

This disturbing map shows just how much plastic is floating in our oceans

By Shylo

 

Drowning in plastic … the quarter of a million tonnes of plastic charted by a new survey may be only part of the picture.  Image: REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo

Five trillion individual pieces, weighing a total of 268,000 tonnes. When the numbers are so big, it’s difficult to take in the full scale of the problem of plastic waste in the world’s oceans.

But this map created by data visualization firm Dumpark makes it crystal clear.  Each white dot represents 20 kilograms of plastic – and when you zoom in on the original interactive version, you can see just how many dots there are…

ocean plastic map screenshot

CLICK ON THE MAP SCREENSHOT TO VIEW THE INTERACTIVE DATA.

The map was created using data from a 2014 research paper by Marcus Eriksen. Of course, coming to an exact figure on the amount of plastic polluting our oceans is not easy. Previous research on the topic has used data from smaller areas to make global projections – with results that have been called into question.

READ MORE SOURCE: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/this-disturbing-map-shows-just-how-much-plastic-is-floating-in-our-oceans/