Turtle Troubles

There are seven turtle species:

Leatherback, Loggerhead, Sea Turtle, Hawksbill , Olive Ridley , Kemps Ridley and Flatback.

The majority of turtle species is on the Endangered Species list or highly vulnerable to decline.

Main cases of turtle decline are due to human effects like nest poaching, ghost fishing, and fishing lines. But harm from plastic debris is the most common to all.

According to our research, the plastic we made 60 years ago still exists today!

250 million tons of plastic is used each year
500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used annually or 1 million bags per minute
50 billion plastic water bottles are used in America each year with almost 38 billion thrown in landfills
Americans use 2.5 million plastic water bottles every HOUR
Plastic is made of chemicals like petroleum (oil) – it is very durable and inexpensive to make so many people like plastic
Only 1-2 % of Americans recycle their plastic
80% of this debris comes from land based activities – by humans – on the shore and land
20% of this debris comes from boaters – offshore oil rigs and large cargo ships and fishing
Ocean and sun break down plastic into tinier pieces (microplastics) – which are small and hard to see or clean-up
Marine debris kills as many as 1 million sea creatures every year