Trash Museum In Russia's Kamchatka Shows Damage Of Marine Pollution

A museum dedicated to garbage has opened on Bering Island off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula aimed at drawing attention to growing pollution in the world's oceans.

Located in the Komandorsky Nature Reserve, the park's press service told RFE/RL that most of the museum's "exhibit items" were found nearby and collected on the island's coast.

Fourteen types of waste are on display, classified into different hazardous categories.

The museum's creators stress the damage that garbage does to the ocean environment and talk about the need to recycle waste as an effective management tool of the Earth’s resources.

Foreign tourists and schoolchildren were some of the first visitors to the museum.

The museum also disseminates information about the park's waste-management project that has collection points for used batteries and lamps.

About 8 million metric tons of plastics enters oceans each year, in addition to the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate in the marine environment, the non-profit group Ocean Conservancy says.

In figures, some 5 trillion pieces of plastic currently litter the ocean, another nonprofit group, The Ocean Cleanup, says.

As a result, plastic has affected 700 species in the ocean. Many mistake plastics for food, which has been found in 60 percent of all seabirds and in 100 percent of sea turtle species.

According to the global Ocean Health Index, Russia scored 74 out of 100 points last year on the health of its waters in 10 categories.