Economic Impact

Around half of the world’s population lives close to the sea, a figure that is expected to rise to three quarters by 2025, and approximately 60% of the population gets the majority of its protein from the sea.  As well as having a environmental impact, the plastic pollution in our oceans is also having a significant economic impact.

• One estimate is that plastic pollution alone could be costing developing and industrialised nations up to $1.27 Billion annually as it threatens fishing, shipping and tourism (McIlgorm et al, 2008)
• A UN study in 2002 concluded that vast resources of the oceans were at risk, along with many economic benefits that humanity derives from them, estimated at about $7 trillion per year (United Nations, 2002)
• The aesthetics of plastic waste along coastlines can affect tourism and the ‘well-being’ of local communities.  In 2010, the Cinque Terre region of Italy banned plastic bottles after it was estimated that 2 million were left behind by tourists every year.
• The waste on coastlines is not necessarily locally produced.  In 1989, 29000 bath toys were lost at sea in the Pacific Ocean.  15 years and 17,000 miles later these toys began arriving at beaches in the UK