Tech

These haunting photos illustrate just how harmful litter can be

Julia Calderone

2016-02-26T15:15:00Z

Dead kingfisher in New Forest, Hampshire — Dead kingfisher in New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

The amount of plastic that humans have produced since the 1940s is enough to coat the entire planet in plastic wrap.

I repeat: The entire planet.

If you're not alarmed, you should be. Plastic and other human-made trash is everywhere, and according to a recent study in the journal Science, it has creeped its way into every single nook and crannie of Earth.

To raise awareness about the impact of trash on nature, UK-based charity Keep Britain Tidy and grocery store chain LIDL commissioned naturalist and photographer Chris Packham to travel to different locations in England and Scotland and snap these eerie photographs of wildlife amongst the clutter.

While the focus of these photos are of real animals and litter, Packham told Tech Insider that the photographs were staged for maximum effect.

Here's the inside story of Packham's haunting work.

The purpose of the series is to juxtapose the beauty of nature with the litter problem in the UK, Packham told Tech Insider.

Beach huts - Calshot, Hampshire — A row of colorful beach huts in Calshot, Hampshire, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

Even though these photographs were staged, finding source material wasn't hard, given that human-produced garbage is is everywhere.

Crisp Packet - Loch Lomond , Scotland — Chip bag in the snow in Loch Lomond, Scotland. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

Plastic bags, liquid containers, cigarette butts, and tons and tons of plastics are discarded into the environment every single day.

Fox in the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey, England.

Plastics are by far the most egregious because they don't break down and decompose in the same way that organic material does. This keeps them in the environment for longer, where they can strangle and poison wildlife, or become lodged in various parts of their bodies.

Hedgehog - British Wildlife Centre, Surrey — A staged hedgehog entangled in a six-pack plastic ring in a British Wildlife Centre in Surrey, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

“We were aware that humans have been making increasing amounts of different kinds of plastic ... over the last 70 years, but we had no idea how far it had travelled round the planet," paleobiologist Jan Zalasiewicz of Leicester University told The Guardian. "It turns out not just to have floated across the oceans, but has sunk to the deepest parts of the sea floor. This is not a sign that our planet is in a healthy condition either.”

Blue tits - New Forest, Hampshire — Blue tits in New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

Source: The Guardian

But the impact of trash isn't just on land. There's currently a 3.5-million-ton "patch" of garbage in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that has aggregated a 90-foot-deep collection of trash including light bulbs, Styrofoam cups, plastic bags, fishing gear, nets, buoys, toothbrushes, and popsicle sticks.

Red squirrel - British Wildlife Centre, Surrey — A red squirrel in the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

Source: Green Science

At an even smaller scale, microbeads — the tiny exfoliating pieces of plastic in popular facial scrubs, toothpastes, moisturizers, cosmetics, and cleaning supplies — constantly trickle from our sinks and shower drains into waterways.

Otter - British Wildlife Centre, Surrey — Otter sits near discarded tires in the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

Source: Tech Insider

In fact, about 8 trillion microbeads wash into the globe's lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans every single day, often with devastating consequences to aquatic organisms.

Balloon in New Forest, Hampshire — Balloon in New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

Source: Tech Insider

There's even speculation that humanity's impacts on the environment have tipped the planet into a new epoch called the Anthropocene, which would effectively end the previous 12,000-year-long geological stage called the Holocene.

Pigeons – Shopping arcade, Southampton, Hampshire — Pigeons pick at an order of fries at a shopping arcade in Southampton, Hampshire, England. Chris Packham/Lidl UK

Source: Smithsonian

Trash is a global problem that will take a long time to fix. But if we want to reverse the damage it's caused, we have to start addressing the problem now.

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