Water Trails & Water Pollution

Causes Of Water Pollution - Marine Dumping

Dumping of litter in the ocean can cause huge problems. Litter items such as 6-pack ring packaging can get caught in marine animals and may result in death. Different items take different lengths of time to degrade in water:

• Cardboard – Takes 2 weeks to degrade.

• Newspaper – Takes 6 weeks to degrade.

• Photodegradable Packaging – Takes 6 weeks to degrade.

• Foam – Takes 50 years to degrade.

• Styrofoam – Takes 80 years to degrade.

• Aluminum – Takes 200 years to degrade.

• Plastic Packaging – Takes 400 years to degrade.

• Glass – It takes so long to degrade that we don’t know the exact time