Mountains of plastic in the environment!

Not with NaKu!

With biodegradable plastic against the plastic flood.

plastic waste in the environment

Infographic: How much plastic ends up in the Meet every year?

Plastic thrown out of the car on the streets and parking lots, plastic waste left in nature. Who does not know that? Unfortunately, a lot of plastic is carelessly thrown into nature and thus ends up in the environment and in the sea. According to a study by Eunomia, more than 12 million tons of plastic end up in the sea every year. That's a full garbage truck per minute. According to measurements by the Federal Environment Agency, Austria also contributes to this, because around 40 tons of plastic get into the Black Sea via the Danube every year. But plastic exports to poorer countries, such as Malaysia, also lead to significant environmental pollution.

Much of the plastic, a full 94%, sinks to the sea floor. Only 1% of the plastic in the oceans floats on the surface and 5% is found on beaches. There is now an estimated 70kg of plastic on every square kilometer of seabed. On beaches it is 2000 kg of plastic per km².

The Eunomia study on plastic in the sea is there here to read.

There is a study by the Federal Environment Agency on plastic in the Danube here to read.

Plastic Islands

According to estimates, there are already 150 million tons of plastic in the sea. In the meantime, the floating portion of this garbage can also be seen from space. Ocean currents transport the plastic and form gigantic plastic islands, there are five of them.

The largest island is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is 19 times the size of Austria. Experts estimate that there are six times more pieces of plastic in these plastic islands than there are plankton organisms.

Effects on animals and humans

Underwater global problem with plastic rubbish

The consequences of plastic pollution or plastic mountains are enormous for the ecosystem of the oceans. Globally, one million birds and 100.000 marine mammals (whales, dolphins, seals) die each year as a result of plastic pollution. Plastic bags, plastic cans, plastic bottles: animals get entangled in them or mistake them for food. The stomachs filled with plastic lead to a false feeling of satiety and the animals starve to death. It takes 300 to 450 years for plastic to break down in the sea. However, it remains as a microplastic and will probably stay there forever. Synthetic plastic also contains toxic pollutants such as plasticizers, which then get into the food chain and finally into us humans as microscopically small particles. They impair our hormone system and thus also physical and mental development. That is why they are particularly dangerous for children.

According to a study by the WWF, every person consumes an average of five grams of plastic per week, which corresponds to the weight of a credit card.

The WWF study is there here for further reading.

What can we do against it?

The best way to prevent plastic from entering the oceans is to take steps to reduce plastic waste on land. In fact, a ban on plastic carrier bags has proven to be an effective step in the right direction. The same approach could be followed for other commonly discarded plastic items such as take-away cups and single-use cutlery.

NaKu products are all made of natural plastic or biodegradable plastic and are therefore all biodegradable and therefore also exempt from the plastic bag ban (see Read more about the plastic bag ban here). Consequently, the pollution of our environment from fully degradable plastic is not permanent. Nevertheless, our products should not be thrown away carefully, because even natural plastic has no place in the environment and the seas.

More about NaKu, the NaKu products and the current NaKu campaign

Moritz Zimmermann looks forward to hearing from you:

E-Mail: office∂naku.at

Phone: + 43 (0) 660 551 7789
(weekdays Mon – Thu from 09:00 – 16:30 and Fri from 09:00 – 14:00)

NaKu - Made of natural plastic