Recently I stumbled upon this article in the National Geographic.

Scientists have discovered a new method to calculate the amount of trash being dumped into the oceans annually and the research statistics were shocking.

According to the study,

Eight Million Tons of is Plastic Dumped in Oceans Every Year

In 2010, eight million tons of plastic trash ended up in the ocean from coastal countries far more than the total that has been measured floating on the surface in the ocean's garbage patches like the Pacific Trash Vortex

That's the bad news. The even worse news is that the tonnage is on target to increase tenfold in the next decade unless the world finds a way to improve how garbage is collected and managed.

Until now, most efforts to measure ocean debris have involved sample counts of plastic floating on the surface in large garbage patches in each of the world's oceans. A study last year, for example, estimated the amount of floating trash to be 245,000 tons at most.

The size of the discrepancy is huge󈟤 to 2,000 times more than the range of estimates of floating debris. That is pretty shocking, especially when you consider that the amount going into the ocean in a single year and what we're counting in the oceans has been going in for 50 years.

In terms It's equal to five grocery bags per every foot of coastline around the globe

The use of plastics for consumer products has become increasingly dominant, and production has steadily increased since the material was first put into wide use a half century ago. In 2012, for example, 288 million tons of plastic were manufactured globally.

Ocean plastic has turned up literally everywhere. It has been found in the deep sea and buried in Arctic ice. It has been ingested with dire consequences by some 700 species of marine wildlife.

This study also creates a new mystery. Because the gap between what is found floating and what flows into the ocean is so large, scientists now have to figure out where else it collects and in what amounts. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY KEITH A. ELLENBOGEN, AP

aRTICLE sOURCE:   http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150212-ocean-debris-plastic-garbage-patches-science/