(WSVN) - Nearly 11 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. This created an environmental hazard for every living creature.
Now, researchers and scientists around the world are doing all they can to remove the toxic waste from our little blue world.
Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic debris, less than five millimeters, that could have deadly consequences.
Researchers in China are developing robotic fish to absorb the waste so the real fish do not consume the rubbish.
“The porous substance of the microplastics attracts harmful substances, such as heavy metals, which amplify their toxicity,” said a Sichuan University researcher.
Scientists created a robot that they can operate in shallow water with a light in hopes that this electrical fish can help remove toxic waste beneath the ocean surface in the future.
Data collected by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimated there might be 50 times more microplastics in the ocean by the end of the century.
In response to ocean-wide pollution, scientists at the University of Barcelona were prompted to train community members on how to assist those trying to save the planet.
“They are citizens that are training,” said University of Barcelona associate professor Anna Sanchez Vidal. “They have to collect scientific samples.”
Hundreds of volunteers participated in the Surfing for Science project to gather microplastics before it is consumed by aquatic creatures.
A baby sea turtle was rescued from a beach in Sydney, Australia who was seen passing microplastics through its bowels for six days.
“The majority of injuries that we do see is obviously ingestion of plastics,” said Sarah Male, a Taronga veterinary nurse.
Humans are also exposed to microplastics.
The WWF estimated the plastic we eat each week would amount to the size of a credit card.
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