How does litter affect our waterways?

How does litter affect our waterways?

Waterway litter harms and kills marine wildlife, causing the death of at least 100,000 marine mammals including turtles, dugongs and whales, and nearly one million seabirds worldwide, per year. 80% of litter in our waterways is made of plastic such as plastic bags, plastic bottles and food wrappers.

How does waste affect water?

Trash can travel throughout the world’s rivers and oceans, accumulating on beaches and within gyres. This debris harms physical habitats, transports chemical pollutants, threatens aquatic life, and interferes with human uses of river, marine and coastal environments.

How does litter affect wildlife?

Litter can be very tempting to wildlife — particularly: Food containers, plastic bottles, and jars. These can smell good but often result in animals getting their heads stuck inside them. However, wildlife can become trapped and animals can also cut themselves on the sharp metal.

Why is littering bad for the water?

When debris—plastic bags, bottles, cigarette butts, etc—is thrown on the ground, it gets washed into storm drains and directly into our waterways. In addition to potentially choking, suffocating, or disabling aquatic life like ducks, fish, turtles, and birds, litter decreases oxygen levels in the water when it decays.

What causes litter in the ocean?

Some of the most common causes of marine litter pollution include: Poorly managed or poorly resourced landfill sites. Inappropriate or illegal dumping of domestic and industrial trash or waste. Street litter that is washed by rain or snowmelt, or blown by wind into waterways.

Why are rivers polluted?

What human activities cause water pollution? Human activities that generate domestic sewage and toxic waste cause water pollution by contaminating water with disease-causing microorganisms and poisonous substances. Oil spills are another source of water pollution that have devastating impacts on surrounding ecosystems.

How does litter cause damage to the environment?

Litter causes damage to marine life, seas and rivers Dumping litter on sidewalks or along curbs, often causes it to get washed down in to storm drains during a heavy rain. Eventually this water leads to the nearest river or ocean. If the water becomes polluted from litter we can no longer use it for drinking or recreation.

Where does litter go when it is dropped on land?

When litter is dropped on land, the wind and rain carry it to stormwater drains which empty into creeks and rivers which then carry it to the ocean. Once litter reaches our waterways, it is very difficult to remove.

How much litter ends up in the ocean?

Litter in our oceans is called ‘marine debris’. Ocean currents can carry marine debris thousands of kilometres around the world. Every year over 7 million tonnes of litter ends up in the world’s oceans. That is approximately 1.3 million rubbish trucks of litter.

Where does most of the litter in rivers come from?

Most aquatic debris comes from land-based sources: littering, legal and illegal dumping, a lack of or poor waste management practices and recycling capacity, stormwater discharges, animal interference with garbage, and extreme natural events like hurricanes and flooding.