Plastic Pollution Trivia

What happens to plastic waste when left in the environment?

• It is a biodegradable material so it eventually disintegrates.

• It never fully goes away, it just breaks into little pieces.

• There is no such thing as plastic waste, all plastic is recycled.

Answer explanation

The correct answer is it breaks into little pieces. Plastics at SEA (Sea Education Association): North Pacific Expedition 2012, a 36-day nautical research journey through the the North Pacific subtropical gyre down to the Hawaiian islands, found this to be true. The team was studying plastic pollution in the ocean and found that out of the 66,077 pieces of plastic collected in samples, 95% of it was millimeters in size. For more on their incredible journey, check out the crew’s journal log.

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Why is plastic dangerous for marine life?

• They mistake it for food and cannot digest it.

• They can get tangled in it which hinders their ability to swim.

• Bacteria on plastic can give coral diseases.

• All of the above

Answer explanation

Plastic tends to float and bobbing on the surface can lead them to be mistaken for other marine life. Plastic bags are often mistaken for jellyfish by leatherback turtles and consumed. Marine life can also get tangled in nets, cords, and other plastic debris, which hinders their ability to swim and in some cases, can be a severe choking hazard. Plastic debris can carry pathogens and trigger an infection.

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By what year do scientists predict plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean, pound for pound?

• 2020

• 2050

• 2250

• 3000

Answer explanation

A report done by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that there are over 150 million tons of plastic in the oceans today. That is about 1 ton of plastic for every 3 tons of fish. Keeping up a business-as-usual trend will have plastic outweighing fish in the ocean by 2050.

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What percent of its plastic does the U.S. recycle?

• 5%

• 35%

• 50%

• 75%

Answer explanation

Only about <a href="https://phys.org/news/2022-05-plastic-recycled.html "5 percent of 51 million tons of U.S. plastic waste was recycled in 2021.

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What percentage of U.S. crude oil consumption does plastic production account for?

• 1%

• 5%

• 30%

• It doesn't account for any part because plastic is not made using oil.

Answer explanation

About 5% of total used petroleum in the U.S. goes toward plastic production. This may not seem like a lot but for the world’s largest consumer of petroleum, that’s equivalent to 330 million barrels of oil a year and therefore contributes to climate change as well!

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On average, how long is a plastic bag used by a person before being thrown away?

• 12 minutes

• 1 hour

• 1 day

• 1 week

Answer explanation

According to the 5 Gyres Institute, 12 minutes is the average “working life” of a plastic bag before it is thrown away. Globally, one million plastic bags are used per minute and only 1% of them are recycled. Most of them make their way to the ocean where they can take up to 20 years to decompose.

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