# data[].attributes.body
C- 2014
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Posted by The Washington Post URL .net is a top level domain
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It shows the reader how much plastic is really in the oceans

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A major new study of the world's oceans has reached a shocking conclusion: Thanks to humans, there are now over 5 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing more than 250,000 tons, floating in water around the world.

With a global population of about 7.2 billion, that's nearly 700 pieces per person.

The study, published in the journal PLOS One by Marcus Eriksen of the Five Gyres Institute in Los Angeles and a large group of colleagues, is based on data from 24 separate ocean expeditions, conducted between 2007 and 2013, to sample plastic pollution. Plastic was either observed from boats, or hauled up from the ocean by nets, in 1,571 locations. The data were then used to run an ocean model to simulate the amount and distribution of plastic debris.

The result not only yielded the estimate of over 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the global ocean - it also cast light on how plastic changes within the ocean (breaking down into smaller pieces) and circulates around the globe. Pieces between 1 millimeter and 4.75 millimeters in size were by far the most prevalent class of plastic in the ocean. However, by weight, really large pieces of plastic, greater than 200 millimeters in size, were the most significant.

"What we are witnessing in the global ocean is a growing threat of toxin-laden microplastics cycling through the entire marine ecosystem," commented lead study author Eriksen of the Five Gyers Institute.

Worryingly, even though there are far fewer people living in the Southern Hemisphere, the research found that its oceans have about the same amount of plastic, suggesting that winds and ocean currents may transport our trash all around the world.

The authors stress that they suspect their estimate is "highly conservative" - there could be a lot more plastic out there than that. For as they note, there is also a "potentially massive amount of plastic present on shorelines, on the seabed, suspended in the water column, and within organisms."

In particular, the authors cite a figure from the trade group Plastics Europe, which suggests that 288 million tons of plastic are produced annually. Compared to a figure like this, the 250,000 tons described in this study represent "only 0.1 percent of the world annual production" - again underscoring that the numbers reported in the study, large though they are, are probably a low end estimate.

Plastic gets into the oceans because we use it and then throw it away (properly or otherwise). For that vast majority of us, that's where our relationship with plastic ends - we don't see what happens next. How does it end up in the oceans? Most simply, plastic bags might literally blow there. Some plastic gets deliberately dumped there. And then there's runoff: Plastic on land can wind up in the water, or flow into the oceans from rivers emptying to them.

Once in the oceans, plastic plastic breaks into smaller pieces and circulates - traveling into five major ocean gyres, which spiral in large circles, winding the trash inward. Most famously, some of it accumulates in great Pacific ocean "garbage patches," which have particularly high plastic concentrations (however, this does not necessarily mean you will see a huge heap of trash floating on the ocean surface).

The ecological consequences of ocean plastic pollution are severe - many marine animals may not only get entangled in plastic, but may ingest this long-lasting material, thinking it is food. That's not only bad for fish, it could ultimately be bad for us. If we consume fish that have consumed plastic, then it is possible that we may ultimately end up eating plastic (or its chemical remnants) too.

So after we throw our plastic objects away, maybe we're not really done with them after all.

So what should you do? "It is imperative that the use of plastics include a 100 percent recovery plan, or choose 100 percent environmental harmlessness in your choice of material," says Eriksen. "The status quo," he adds, "is no longer acceptable."
Related: © 2014, The Washington Post Dutch teen targets Pacific Ocean 'plastic soup' menace

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Wonkblog: Oceans now contain 5 trillion pieces of floating plastic

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A major new study of the world's oceans has reached a shocking conclusion: Thanks to humans, there are now over 5 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing more than 250,000 tons, floating in water around the world. With a global population of about 7.2 billion, that's nearly 700 pieces per person.

# data[].attributes.body
C- February 15, 2019
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Amanda Keetley (Less Plastic)
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It informs the reader 9 reasons why you should refuse Ex:) Plastic enters the food chain

# data[].attributes.body
C- It has been revised in 2020
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Published by Conserve Energy Future URL domain is .com
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It tells why states chould banned plastic bags

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C- Posted on August 8, 2018 (been updated)
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Made by CartoonStock
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It shows that people can be saying that there helping the Earth and encourage others to do so but there just preaching

# data[].attributes.body
C- revised in 2020
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Posted by CartoonStock
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It informs the viewer that the trash in the ocean can also impact people including swimmers

# data[].attributes.body
C- Posted on October 10, 2018
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Ralph Underhill
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It is to inform the readers what kind of plastic is being found in the oceans

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Producers could simply market items like throwaway plastic cups as reusable, under changes to a draft EU laws on single-use plastics tabled today in the European Parliament, the Rethink Plastic alliance of NGOs has warned.

The European Parliament's environment committee voted on a proposal that would introduce new rules on plastics including bans on certain single-use plastic products responsible for marine pollution, and require European governments to set reduction targets for others.

Campaigners are concerned that the committee's proposed definition of 'single-use' plastic items is too narrow, and could lead to producers easily avoiding bans, and would allow them to ignore reduction targets and other measures to reduce plastic pollution.
Meadhbh Bolger, resource justice campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said:
Sea animals don't care about labels. Whether plastic has been used once or more times, the damaging effect to seas, rivers and wildlife is the same. The EU has to set substantial bans and reduction targets, and producers have to clean up their mess.

The environment committee added very lightweight plastic bags, polystyrene food and drink containers, and products made of 'oxo-degradable' plastic to the list of banned items originally proposed by the European Commission. The proposed rules would also require plastic bottles to be made with 35% recycled plastic and introduce collection and recycling targets for fishing gear, a key contributor to marine pollution.

The European Parliament will vote in plenary in the week of 22 October on the environment committee's proposals.

Yesterday, the global Break Free From Plastic movement published the results of 239 clean-ups and brand audits in 42 countries on six continents, revealing the extent of plastic pollution. The companies responsible for the most plastic pollution were Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé. Full details at bit.ly/brandauditreport2018.

On the same day, a 260,000-strong petition calling for the legislation to hold companies responsible for plastic pollution was delivered to members of the European Parliament's environment committee by Rethink Plastic, Break Free From Plastic and Sum of Us.

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Plastic producers could market single-use items as reusable to dodge EU ban

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European Parliament must close loopholes, say Rethink Plastic campaignersProducers could simply market items like throwaway plastic cups as reusable, under changes to a draft EU laws on single-use plastics tabled today in the European Parliament, the Rethink Plastic alliance of NGOs has warned.

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C- Posted onNovember 13, 2017
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Amanda Keetley (Less Plastic)
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It tells why we should ban straws and how single use plastic has a negative impact

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C- Posted on July 13, 2018 (been revised in 2020)
R- It disagrees with my claim
A- Source is Competitive Enterprise Institute
A- I didn't find any errors
P-It prevides reasons why single use plastic shouldn't be banned

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Consumers beware: In response to plastic waste collecting in the oceans, states, businesses, and even the European Union have proposed absurd bans on the use of everyday plastic straws, cups, and other items in an attempt to solve ocean pollution.

This week, Starbucks pledged to remove plastic straws from its nearly 30,000 stores worldwide by 2020. Starbucks joins a going list of companies supporting this effort to decrease or ban the use of plastics: IKEA, Royal Caribbean, McDonald's, Hyatt, American and Alaska Airlines, and more.

Recently, the city of Seattle became the first U.S. city to ban plastic straws and utensils, and in May the European Union joined Great Britain and announced a proposal to ban single-use plastic items, including straws.

Banning plastics has been a growing trend over the last several years. But do such laws and policies actually help solve the problem of plastic waste filling up our oceans? Not exactly.

Here are five reasons from CEI's Angela Logomasini why banning consumer plastics actually diverts attention away from real solutions, and instead harms both consumers and the environment.

Most of the waste is not from consumers. The primary culprit of ocean pollution is not straws, cups, and plastic bags. According to the nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup, 46 percent of the Pacific patch is made up of fish nets. When combined with ropes and lines, it accounts for 52 percent of the trash. The rest ranges from large plastic crates and bottle caps to small fragments called microplastics. Obviously, this is not simply a consumer waste issue, and the solutions need to address that.

Studies show the vast majority of plastic waste is due to poor disposal practices outside of the United States. Data in a 2015 Science magazine report reveals that China and 11 other Asian nations are responsible for 77 to 83 percent of plastic waste entering the oceans because of poor disposal practices. These practices include littering, disposed waste that isn't managed, and uncontrolled or poorly supervised landfills. This is in contrast to U.S. waste management practices, like controlled landfills and recycling programs, that decreases water and ocean pollution. A 2017 Environmental Sciences and Technology study reported that up to 95 percent of plastic waste enters oceans from one of 10 rivers-eight in Asia and two in Africa.

Plastic is more sanitary and safer to use than other alternatives. Plastic items are more sanitary than other alternatives. For example, reusable bags often harbor bacteria and could pose a health risk for consumers. Plastic packaging reduces food waste and makes possible transporting and serving food in a way that reduces disease transmission. Recent claims to the contrary do not hold water.

Plastics have important environmental benefits. In many ways, plastics are better for the environment than other alternatives because they are more efficient and use less energy during production and transport. Plastic consumer goods like straws, foam cups, and utensils are less energy intensive to produce than alternatives like paper or aluminum. Production of these items takes more resources, creates more waste, and results in more pollution than the production of disposable plastic items. Reusable items like foam cups, straws, and bags require more than 100 uses-and in more than 1,000 in the case of foam cups-justify the energy required to produce them.

Plastics are economical. In addition to being more efficient and sanitary, plastic consumer products are also less expensive to produce than paper or aluminum alternatives. Because these items are cheaper to make, they are also less expensive for consumers both in the United States and around the globe. Bans of such economical items simply increase costs for businesses and ultimately consumers.

Bottom line. While bans on plastic consumer items like bags, cups, straws, and whatever else may be great material for grandstanding by politicians, they only divert attention from developing real solutions that actually tackle the problem of plastic waste in our oceans. This includes improving the quality of waste management practices around the globe, but particularly in Asia and Africa.
Read more from CEI Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini on why banning consumer plastics won't solve ocean pollution .

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Five Reasons Banning Plastics May Harm the Environment and Consumers - Competitive Enterprise Institute

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Consumers beware: In response to plastic waste collecting in the oceans, states, businesses, and even the European Union have proposed absurd bans on the use of everyday plastic straws, cups, and other items in an attempt to solve ocean pollution. This week, Starbucks pledged to remove plastic straws from its nearly 30,000 stores worldwide by [...]

# data[].attributes.body
C- published 2018
R- It agrees with my claim
A- multipe authors URL domain is .org
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It informs the reader on several topics about single use plastics

# data[].attributes.body
C- Posted on June 15, 2019
R- It disagrees with my claim
A- Posted by u/Urban  .com
A- I didn't find any errors
P- They persuade the reader that plastic straws are the best option

# data[].attributes.body
C- Posted on June 10, 2019
R- It agrees with my claim
A- Your Morning
A- I didn't find any errors
P- Informs you and you find out that about %10 of recyclables aren't recycled

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These are the items you can expect on Canada's single-use plastics ban list | Your Morning

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C- It was posted on November 1, 2018
R- it agrees with my claim
A-The Newsmakers
A- I didn't find any errors
P- It informs the viewer that plastic banning might not be enough

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Will single-use plastic ban save the oceans?