The Problem
If present trends continue, soon the combined weight of plastic in the oceans will outweigh that of the fish. Even though plastic has only started to be widely used in the last 70 years it is already threatening many essential layers of our ecosystems. The attractiveness of this material is easy to understand: it is light weight, pliable, moisture resistant, cheap and seems to be the perfect solution for making everything from storage bags to carpets, counter tops and car parts. However, since the middle of the last century it is estimated that about 6.3 billion tons of plastic has been created with only 9% recycled and 12% incinerated. What about the rest?
One of the consequences is that large amount of the world’s cumulative non-recycled production has made its way into the oceans and is very difficult to salvage. Cleaning up the vast islands of floating trash in the oceans is difficult enough. But, how do you retrieve a substance that breaks up into trillions of micro-plastic bits and threatens the digestive tracts of fish and birds as well as contributes to coral disease in Asia?
This competition has been created to encourage Langley School District students to devise innovative solutions to this problem of global plastic pollution and by doing so contribute to the future health of all of us.
One of the consequences is that large amount of the world’s cumulative non-recycled production has made its way into the oceans and is very difficult to salvage. Cleaning up the vast islands of floating trash in the oceans is difficult enough. But, how do you retrieve a substance that breaks up into trillions of micro-plastic bits and threatens the digestive tracts of fish and birds as well as contributes to coral disease in Asia?
This competition has been created to encourage Langley School District students to devise innovative solutions to this problem of global plastic pollution and by doing so contribute to the future health of all of us.
