Single-use plastic accounts for 40% of the plastic produced each year. Many of the products, such as plastic bags, plastic cutlery and straws, are used for only minutes but remain in the environment for hundreds of years.

In 2010, 4 to 12 million tons of plastic waste from land-based sources ended up in the world's oceans, where more and more waste is accumulating (Swiss Litter Report 2018).

Marine animals get caught in plastic nets, tapes and bags. They mistake colorful plastic snippets for food, often with fatal consequences.

Meanwhile, plastic is not biodegradable. It decomposes over a very long period of time into ever more numerous and smaller particles until it becomes microplastic.

The problem with microplastics

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that pollute the environment. Water, wind and sunlight have broken them up into small particles less than 5 mm in diameter. Such small particles cannot be collected or recycled.

Microplastics are spreading through the oceans and are now found in every corner of the globe - including drinking water.

It has a much more toxic effect than macroplastics, for example. Plastic particles have been found in more than 100 marine species - including edible fish, shrimp and mussels. Sometimes these have blocked the animals' digestive tracts or damaged organs, with deadly consequences.

And although awareness of the environmental and health damage caused by plastic is growing, plastic production is booming.

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