National Geographic Kids: Plastic in the Ocean

Plastic is an amazing man-made material – it’s cheap to produce and has many uses! But half of the plastic we produce is designed to be used just once and then thrown away – and even plastic that can be reused or recycled gets chucked out, too! 

Much of our unwanted plastic ends up in the ocean – around 8 million tonnes of it every year, in fact! And because plastic takes 400 years to break down, it stays there for a long, long time, putting our friends beneath the waves in serious danger. Let’s dive in and take a closer look…

Visit the Engineering and Design Module of the TMA BlueTech Grade Three curriculum for curriculum connections.