Our oceans sustain life.

An abundant ocean

can feed a billion people 
a healthy meal every day forever.

But now they are being filled, 
killed by throwaway plastics.

The equivalent of one 
garbage truck of plastic

is dumped in the sea every minute -

17.6 billion pounds every year.

Plastic is everywhere in our ocean -

floating on the surface,

mixing in the saltwater,

and sitting on the ocean bottom
miles and miles deep.

And once in the ocean,

it never goes away.

Over hundreds of years,

it breaks down into small pieces,

but those pieces,

even the tiny ones called micro plastics,

are still plastic.

Sea turtles are choking on them.

Scientists say that over 60% of whale
and dolphin species are affected by it.

It's all plankton - the base 
of the ocean food chain eat it -

and so, do we?

It's in the water we drink.

It's in our food.

Microplastics have been found 
in our salt, our honey, and our beer,

and sometimes even in the air we breathe.

Companies are choosing to make something

that will be used just once,

from a material that lasts forever.

If you don't like what throwaway plastics
are already doing to our world,

brace yourself.

We face a tsunami of throwaway plastic

in our and the ocean's future.

Four times more plastic will be produced

between now and the middle of the century

than has been produced in all of history.

Four times more.

What can we do?

Recycling?

Of all the plastic ever
generated as of 2015,

only 9% was recycled.

Even when it is recycled,

plastic degrades.

Your plastic soda bottle maybe 
becomes a shampoo bottle,

then a floor mat,

even in the best case, it doesn't recycle,

it down cyclists.

And then it becomes pollution

that ruins our beaches 
and chokes sea animals forever.

We should not be forced to pollute
the ocean every time we eat,

drink, or go shopping.

We need to be given a choice -

a plastic-free choice.

This is not hard to imagine.

Indeed, some responsible companies 
are already leading the way.

There are throwaway plastic-free
aisles in supermarkets.

Beverage companies already offer
plastic-free soda and seltzer water.

Restaurants offer plastic-free service.

There are plastic-free rooms and hotels

An airline is now offering
a plastic-free flight

And Oceana and our allies are 
winning plastic-free victories.

Following campaigning by Oceana,

Peru passed the law

that keeps plastic out of 
national parks and beaches.

Belize is getting rid of styrofoam

And the European Union

has mandated reductions 
for throwaway plastic

throughout its 28 member countries.

But with your help, we can do the work.

Together, we can create a movement

to reduce throwaway plastic.

We can make sure

we're all given real plastic-free choices.

We can help our cities, towns, 
schools, and workplaces

establish zones that are 
free of throwaway plastic.

Let's stop plastic pollution 
from wrecking our beaches and our oceans,

and have healthy oceans, the delight, 
the sustenance for generations to come.

Please join our campaign!

Go to oceana.org/plastics today.

Subtitles by Carol Wang