Seabirds like albatrosses belong to the most threatened bird group in the world. Coincidentally, this group of birds (Procellariiformes) also ingests the highest amount of human garbage found in oceans around the world.
At this very moment, 250,000 tonnes of garbage is drifting through the world’s oceans and threatening marine wildlife who mistake it for food. The discarded balloons in the mix are 32 times more likely to kill a seabird than hard plastics. With nearly half of all seabirds experiencing population declines and more than one-quarter threatened around the world, it’s predicted that in the next three decades, 99 percent of all seabird species will have ingested trash drifting in the ocean.