Plastic pollution in oceans on track to rise for decades

BERLIN (AP) — Plastic pollution at sea is reaching worrying levels and will continue to grow even if significant action is taken now to stop such waste from reaching the world’s oceans. That is according to a review of hundreds of academic studies. Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute examined almost 2,600 research papers to provide an overview ahead of a U.N. environmental meeting this month. The authors concluded that almost every species in the ocean has been affected by plastic pollution that is harming important ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves. The environmental group WWF, which commissioned the study, said consumers can help cut plastic pollution by changing their behavior but governments need a global policy to tackle the problem.