The sea has become a huge dumping ground for plastic waste of all kinds. The disproportionate amounts of this material that end up in it -up to 12 million tons a year, according to Greenpeace data-, together with its easy dispersion and its very slow decomposition process -which takes even longer than on land- make it extremely difficult to end this invasion.
The truth is that plastics represent the largest fraction of marine litter -85% of the total, according to the UN-. In addition, it is the most harmful and persistent. If drastic measures are not taken to end this global problem, it is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.
Only 20% of the waste found in the sea comes from maritime activity (mainly fishing and the transport of goods and passengers). In this case, since 1973 there has been an international agreement, MARPOL (English acronym for Maritime Pollution), which ensures the prevention of pollution of the maritime environment from ships. It was approved by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations body that promotes cooperation between states to prevent marine pollution, and must be strictly respected by all types of shipping companies.
However, the bulk of plastic waste -80%- reaches the sea from landfills, due to the action of wind or rain, from rivers and even through the sewage system in urban areas, even though they are far from the coast. Once they reach the sea, they can remain suspended or float on the surface, but they can also sink to depths of more than 10,000 meters.
