Photograph: Tangaroa Blue FoundationHinds is working at the coalface of an epidemic of plastic pollution which, Guardian Australia has found, is attacking Australia’s beaches, waterways and oceans, and the animals that live there. From the most remote wilderness idylls to city coastlines, scientists and citizens have collected and documented millions of pieces of plastic debris. Play Video 3:32 Welcome to Australia's plastic beach – video“Plastic is one of the most useful materials we have ever created. But Lavers also hypothesised the plastic ingestion could be cutting the survival rates of chicks by about 11% annually. “And right now we are not even close.”While the new legislation is likely to slow down the wave of plastic pollution hitting Australia’s coastal waters, there’s little that could be done about the mountains of plastic that’s already out there.

Source: The Guardian April 15, 2018 18:01 UTC