We eat 2000 small pieces of plastic every week. Millions of birds and whales die because they eat plastic.

Every year, about a pound of plastic ends up in your stomach. We drink and eat microscopic pieces of plastic every day. It is not clear how dangerous it is. But it is not healthy.

Briefly explained

Plastic is a fantastic material. Doctors save hundreds of thousands of lives with equipment made of plastic. Plastic has sealed our sewer systems and houses.

A lot of plastic goes astray: only 9 percent of all plastic produced over the centuries is recycled, and 12 percent is burned. The rest have ended up in landfills and in the wild.

Plastic in the sea is now considered one of the world’s biggest environmental problems. Millions of birds, fish, whales, and sea turtles die from ingesting plastic.

– Why does between 8 and 12 million tons of plastic end up in the sea every year, equivalent to the weight of 100 large passenger planes?

The consumption and production of plastic has exploded. The world now uses more than 350 million tons of plastic a year. That’s 250 times more than in 1950, and consumption increases dramatically every year. High consumption means a lot of garbage.

36 percent of the plastic packaging collected in Norway is recycled into new plastic products. In many countries, waste management systems are poor and people dump plastic in the wild. Much of the plastic garbage ends up in streams and rivers and is transported to the sea. Much of the plastic waste in Europe and the United States is sold to countries in Asia. Much of this ends up at sea during transport.

– Why is it so dramatic that more and more plastic ends up in the sea?

Plastic is made to be solid and last a long time. It can take hundreds of years before nature breaks down plastic. It has been calculated that by 2050, that is, in just 30 years, the weight of all plastic in the sea will be greater than that of all sea fish. A plastic bottle in the ocean will gradually break due to the sun’s ultraviolet rays and mechanical wear. When the pieces have become small enough, microorganisms in the ocean will break down the plastic into carbon and water. But this process can take 450 years.

Plastic waste in the sea has become a great new threat to many animal species. Animals are already fighting environmental toxins, humans destroying their habitats, overfishing and climate change. Plastic is now one of the biggest threats to marine mammals, seabirds, and fish. Researchers claim that nine out of ten seabirds have pieces of plastic in their stomach. Plastic causes constipation in animals, a false feeling of satiety, and microplastics end up in the blood and body tissues of animals and humans.

– How much plastic is there now in the sea?

Of course, there are no exact figures, but it is estimated that about 300 million tons float in the sea. 15 percent of plastic floats in the ocean. In several places, ocean currents collect plastic in huge islands of mud.

About 15 percent of plastic is washed ashore and left on beaches, while up to 70 percent of plastic sinks into the sea or moves through the world’s oceans with currents. In the great depths of the ocean there is no sunlight and little oxygen, and decomposition occurs very slowly.

– Why is plastic a growing climate problem?

Almost all plastics are made from oil. Only a small part is made from cellulose from trees. Therefore, both the production and incineration of plastic generate large CO2 emissions, as when the oil is burned as gasoline. In 2014, about one percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions came from plastic. But because the use and production of plastic is increasing dramatically, it is estimated that plastic will account for 20 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions in 30 years.

– What is being done to reduce plastic waste?

Several major projects are underway to collect plastic floating in the sea. Beach cleanings are carried out in many countries. Last year, despite opposition from the Trump administration, an agreement was reached on a global agreement to regulate the plastic waste trade. This industry is huge, with a turnover of five billion dollars a year. Much of the trade is illegal, but since December this year it has been prohibited to export and import plastic waste without a license.

Sorting at source is being introduced in more and more countries, because more plastic can be reused. In this year’s television campaign, WWF and NRK are collaborating to raise money that will be used to reduce plastic waste.

– Why are 32 municipalities boycotting this year’s television campaign?

Several of the municipalities justify the boycott by claiming that they do not agree with WWF’s predator policy. WWF wants the wolf, bear, wolverine and lynx populations to increase in Norway. The municipalities strongly disagree with this and therefore will not support WWF’s work against plastic waste in the sea.

– Should this year’s TV campaign money be spent on anti-predator measures in Norway or other countries?

No. Everything collected in the NRK and WWF television campaign will be used to reduce plastic pollution in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand. A quarter of all the plastic that ends up in the world’s oceans comes from these countries because waste collection works so badly.

– The money will improve the waste system for 900,000 people, and the goal is to reduce their plastic emissions to rivers and seas by 7,000 tons per year. 80 percent of all plastic that ends up in the sea comes from the land. Therefore, good waste management is key to solving the problem. 15 tons of plastic now end up in the sea every minute.