50 year old marine debri reminds that plastic is unbiodegradable

Some of these plastic articles seem like they were thrown away yesterday but they have been floating in the ocean. for decades. Photo from Pacific Longboarder Website.

Marine debri that is over 50 years old has been washing up on English beaches.

England’s marine environmental group, Surfers Against Sewage, which holds beach-clean-ups that have been growing in scale over recent years, have reported finding plastic pollution that has been in the ocean for decades.

Among the tonnes of debris, their volunteers are increasingly uncovering weird, wonderful and historic items of litter, Pacific Longboarder reported.

Rubbish that was discarded over 50 years ago is washing up in virtually pristine condition; all too often single-use packaging from yesteryear that shows the durability and persistence of plastics in the marine environment.

Items uncovered by SAS volunteers at recent beach cleans include Golden Wonder crisp packets dating back to the 1960s, confectionary packaging from the early 1980s and a Tesco’s yoghurt pot from the early 1970s.

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