currentsinbiology:

Here’s how much plastic enters the ocean each year

Adding together all 192 countries in the world with a significant coastal population, the researchers report online today in Science that about 4 million to 12 million metric tons of plastic washed offshore in 2010 alone, or about 1.5% to 4.5% of the world’s total plastic production—enough to
cover every foot of coastline on the planet. That’s just the beginning
of the problems, the team says, as scientists still don’t know where more than 99% of ocean plastic debris
ends up—and what impact it’s having on marine life and the human food
supply. What’s more, the authors predict that the annual amount of
plastic waste tumbling out to sea will more than double in the next 10
years.