However, the plastic pollution seemed more severe than we first thought because scientists have recently found plastic waste in the remotest waters of the planet - the Arctic!
News agency Reuters reported that a US-led team of scientists have discovered tiny pieces of plastic in ice cores drilled in the Arctic.
“We had spent weeks looking out at what looks so much like pristine white sea ice floating out on the ocean.
“When we look at it up close and we see that it’s all very, very visibly contaminated when you look at it with the right tools — it felt a little bit like a punch in the gut,” Jacob Strock, a graduate student researcher at the University of Rhode Island who conducted an initial onboard analysis of the cores, was quoted as saying.
The team of scientists reportedly took 18 ice cores measuring two metres in length from four locations.
Upon observations, they saw visible plastic beads and filaments of various shapes and sizes in the ice, which is estimated to be at least a year old.
The report said that the discovery highlights how the waste problem has reached epidemic proportions.
So, the next time you pick up a straw thinking how bad you could hurt the planet, just remember this peice of news.