Toxic timebomb: why we must fight back against the world's plague of plastic | Jennifer Lavers and Alexander Bond

We must reduce our dependence on plastics, especially single-use items, and seek out alternative materials

" 38 million pieces of plastic waste found on uninhabited South Pacific island

It's everywhere. From the Mariana Trench to the floor of the Arctic Ocean, on tropical beaches and polar coasts. It's in wildlife, seafood, sea salt and even on the surface of Mars. The world is blighted by plastic. Up to 12m tonnes of the stuff enters the world's oceans every year (that's one new tonne of plastic every three to 10 seconds) and it doesn't go to that magical place called "away".

Once in the oceans, it can float around for years, or even decades, before being swallowed by a bird or a whale. During that time, it can travel tens of thousands of kilometres, all the while absorbing contaminants from the sea water, concentrating them like a sponge. When wildlife ingest plastic, the brew of toxic chemicals can be transferred to the animal's tissues with potentially dangerous consequences.