A Dead Whale Washed Ashore In Indonesia With 13 pounds of plastic Waste Filled In Its Belly

#1 Dead whale washed ashore in Indonesia and her stomach was filled with 13 pounds of plastic waste

This dead whale that washed ashore in Indonesia is proof of how pollution has affected wildlife. This whale ended up dead because of the polluted Earth's oceans that have tons and tons of plastic dumped in them every month. 

This beautiful sperm whale was discovered on November 19 by rescuers from Wakatobi National Park. They received a report from environmentalists that villagers had surrounded the washed-up whale and started to butcher its rotting carcass.

WWF

#2 According to USA Today, the whale measured 9.5 meters ( around 31 feet) long

Chief of Wakatobi National Park, Heri Santoso, said that the wildlife conservation group WWF and the park’s conservation academy inspected the whale. A multitude of plastic products were found in the whale’s stomach after the inspection. 

A total of approximately 5.9 kilograms (about 13 pounds) of plastic waste were found in the poor whale’s stomach, and it's believed that this might have significantly contributed to its death.

“Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful,” said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation coordinator at WWF Indonesia. Suprapti also told that it will be impossible to determine if plastic was the exact cause of the whale’s death due to its significantly decayed state.

Different kinds of plastics were found in the whale's stomach. The researchers broke down the plastic products found in the belly. 15 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, 2 flip-flops, a nylon sack, and more than 1,000 other assorted pieces of plastic were all present in the whale's stomach.

WWF

#3 Indonesia is the second-largest plastic polluter in the world

There was a study published in the journal Science, according to which China is the first-largest plastic polluter in the world followed by Indonesia who is the second largest. 

In Indonesia, the population of 260 million produces 3.2 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste a year, of which 1.29 million tons ends up in the ocean

Pixabay

#4 If five Asian countries reduce their plastic waste by 65 percent, it will lead to a 45 percent plastic reduction worldwide

The 50 percent of the plastic polluting the world’s oceans comes from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, according to a 2015 report from the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment.

This report further says that if these five Asian nations start reducing their plastic waste by 65 percent, this would lead to a 45 percent reduction of plastic waste worldwide.

The good thing is that Indonesia is one of the very few countries in the world that are taking responsibility for their share of the problem quite seriously and working on reducing it. 

Indonesia’s coordinating minister of maritime affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said; 

“I’m so sad to hear this, it is possible that many other marine animals are also contaminated with plastic waste and this is very dangerous for our lives.”

#5 Indonesia is set to reduce the use of plastic by 70 percent by the year 2025

The minister has told the supermarkets and the stores to not provide plastic bags to their customers. The government is introducing lessons in educational institutions where the students are being taught about the dangers of pollution.

“This big ambition can be achieved if people learn to understand that plastic waste is a common enemy,” Pandjaitan told The Associated Press.

The Indonesian government has set its goal to reduce the use of plastic in Indonesia by 70 percent by the year 2025.