One bit of plastic kills

MORE than half of the world’s sea turtles are thought to have plastic in their guts as millions of tonnes of rubbish continues to be dumped into oceans each year, CSIRO researchers say.

An analysis of about 1000 turtles found dead on Australian beaches found hundreds of pieces of plastic in the animals’ guts. These included plastic bags, plastic fragments, balloons, lolly wrappers and rope.

“Some of the turtles we studied had eaten only one piece of plastic, which was enough to kill it,” Dr Kathy Townsend of the University of the Sunshine Coast said.