It is well known that plastic pollution is a big problem worldwide, in the same way, plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our beaches has become a global crisis. All world countries contribute to the plastic ocean pollution especially the ones that are connected with an ocean.

Even though Mexico is not an island, it is a country surrounded by water. It is connected with the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and it has two Gulfs, the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California. This makes Mexico a strategic point for ocean plastic pollution.

Recent researches said that about 95 percent of ocean plastic comes from land. It is estimated that only 9 percent of the plastics are recycled. However, Mexico is a big consumer of plastics, it has the first place as the country that most consumes bottles of water in the World. In addition, 90 million of water and soda bottles are trashed in the streets, rivers, and beaches, increasing the ocean’s pollution.

According to the Ocean Conservancy, the top five plastics found along the Gulf of Mexico’s shoreline are cigarette butts, bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, and many, many small, unrecognizable plastic shards. Many of these plastics containers are produced by international companies as coca-cola, Starbucks, Unilever, Pepsi, Nestle, Et Al.  Even though these plastics are now a big problem, there are no laws or regulations to obligate to recover or reuse the plastic material they use to commercialize their products.

The main problem of the ocean plastic pollution is that plastic never disappears. It does not biodegrade and convert back into harmless elements; it just break into smaller pieces over time until it converts in “microplastics”. However, these microplastics can be consumed by marine animals and find their way into the human food chain.

The problem of ocean pollutions is not only caused by big companies, but also by the consumers. As consumers, we can avoid the single-use plastics, promote the use of compostable utensils and look for more eco-friendly alternatives to plastics.