of all land and marine animals combined. Borrelle et al. 2020 has estimated that 19-23 million tonnes of plastic waste entered aquatic ecosystems in 2016. while the Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ (2020) have estimated that 9-14 million tonnes of plastic waste ended up in the oceans the same year.

;COVID eraThe amount of plastic waste produced increased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased demand for protective equipment