The Plastic Crisis

The same chemical stability that makes plastics useful makes them an environmental disaster. Most plastics do not biodegrade, because bacteria lack enzymes to break synthetic polymer bonds.

About 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans annually. UV light breaks it into microplastics — fragments under 5mm now found in rain, drinking water, Arctic ice, and human blood. Over 5 trillion plastic particles float in the world's oceans.