Multiple urban and rural sources of pollution, with plastic trash making up the majority of them, are putting the marine biodiversity of the seas under threat. Ocean plastic pollution is a persistent problem around the globe; animals may become entangled in larger pieces of plastic like fishing nets or ingest microplastics that eventually enter the food chain to be consumed by humans.
Research published in March this year found that there are an estimated 170 trillion pieces of plastic, mainly microplastics, on the surface of the world's oceans today, much of it discarded since 2005.
The officials in Chennai erected a structure of ocean plastic art at the Besant Nagar beach to raise awareness about the harmful impacts of pollution and the importance of maintaining clean beaches.
Sharing the image of the massive art structure, IAS officer Supriya Sahu, who is Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change, and Forests, for the Govt. of Tamil Nadu, wrote on Twitter, "We have put up this installation made with plastic waste retrieved from the ocean at Besant Nagar Beach in Chennai to mark the Mega Beach Cleanup programme organised today. It not only portrays the sad reality of pollution in our oceans but also raises an alarm about the serious threat to marine biodiversity."
The tweet has gotten a huge response, with around 70,000 views.
Meanwhile, according to current trends, plastic use will nearly double from 2019 across G20 countries by 2050, reaching 451 million metric tonnes each year.
Recycling, even in countries with advanced waste management systems, has done little to help the pollution problem since only a small percentage of plastics are properly recycled and much of it ends up in landfills instead.
If landfills are not properly managed, plastic waste can leach into the environment, eventually making its way to the oceans.
