We’ve all heard about how plastic is filling our landfills and contaminating our oceans. Plastic is not biodegradable, and it can break down into microplastics that wash into the oceans, pollute the water, and threaten marine life.

Plastic pollution in the oceans has reached a stage where microplastics – pieces smaller than 5mm – now outnumber stars in our galaxy, according to UN secretary general António Guterres. 

Plastic: a most versatile and ubiquitous material, it is difficult to imagine life without it. Despite the growth it has enjoyed for decades, the detriment caused to society and the environment by its abundance can no longer be ignored.

Our oceans are littered with plastics. Indeed, we are regularly exposed to images and stories of whales and sea turtles choking to death on plastic trash. Ocean plastic is clearly a problem but what is the solution?

World’s population is growing, so is the plastic wastes that people produce. According to the United Nations estimates, annually more than 8 million tons of plastics flow into the oceans.

Over the last decade we have become increasingly alarmed at the amount of plastic in our oceans. More than 8 million tons of it ends up in the ocean every year. If we continue to pollute at this rate, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Almost all the world’s countries have agreed on a deal aimed at restricting shipments of hard-to-recycle plastic waste to poorer countries, the United Nations announced on Friday.

When I arrive at the marina in Victoria on a late-July morning, the sky and water are complementary shades of azure, and there is not one cloud in the sky — a Pacific Northwestern idyll.

As consumers wake up to the national debate of GMO labeling, possible links of high-fructose corn syrup to obesity, and larger dead zones caused by chemical runoff, another movement is building in the sidelines:

Plastic is, nowadays, almost universally reviled. Yet it shouldn’t be. It is a magnificent material, with innumerable advantages that far outweigh its few disadvantages. Plastic, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.