ORLANDO, Fla. – A swimwear company is partnering up with an environmental nonprofit to educate students and greater Orlando residents about the effects of plastics on the healthy of the ocean.
The California-based 5 Gyres Institute estimates that by 2050 there will be more pounds of plastic waste in the ocean than fish, and each year 8 million tons of plastics end up in the global ocean.
Swimwear company Everything But Water is partnering with 5 Gyres and the Surfrider Foundation to try and end the global health crisis created by plastic pollution.
"A single plastic microbead can be one million times more toxic than the water around it," according to the 5 Gyres Institute website. "These pollutants work their way up the food chain—and onto our plates."
On Monday, the company is hosting several events in Orlando, Cape Canaveral and Miami.
Dr. Marcus Eriksen, 5 Gyres co-founder, will lead Everything But Water employees on an ocean trawling expedition to study the effects of microplastic pollution departing from Port Canaveral.
On Monday and Tuesday, the organization will bring education about pollution to Orlando-area ninth grade students.
In Miami, Everything But Water is hosting a Wednesday beach cleanup with the Miami chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. For more information visit volunteercleanup.org.
In 2014, after publishing the Global Estimate of Plastic Pollution, the 5 Gyres Institute successfully campaigned to end the use of plastic microbeads in the U.S.
Now the Los Angeles nonprofit is taking aim at non-recyclable polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam.