One Green Sea Turtle Can Hold 10 Ping Pong Balls’ Worth of Plastic
Picture a green sea turtle gliding through the water. Peaceful. Ancient. Graceful. Now picture ten ping pong balls’ worth of plastic jammed inside its body.
That’s the average load scientists found inside one green sea turtle—around 26.4 grams of plastic. As a group, female green turtles are holding six tonnes of plastic in their guts. That’s about the size of a full garbage truck.
And they didn’t ask for any of this.
Plastic Doesn’t Just Float—It Fills Living Bodies
Most people imagine ocean plastic floating around like clutter on the surface. But a good chunk of it ends up inside animals—soft bags, brittle bottle caps, fishing nets, food wrappers, even foam bits.
Turtles eat it thinking it’s food. Some starve with full bellies. Others suffer internal wounds. Some get tangled up in rope and die slowly, out of sight and unheard.
This isn’t rare. It’s happening all the time.
Why Turtles? Because They’re Already Hanging by a Thread
Six of the seven sea turtle species are in trouble—vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. And now they’re swallowing our mess on top of it.
Scientists focused on female green turtles because they had the most data. They built models based on where turtles live, what they eat, and how countries near those habitats manage waste.
Turtles near the equator and near countries with poor waste systems? They’re eating more plastic. And suffering more.
A new study published in Nature Geoscience estimates that female green sea turtles are holding over six tonnes of plastic in their bodies at any given moment.
This Hilarious Turtle Book Might Know Your Pet Better Than You Do
Let’s be real—most turtle care guides feel like reading a textbook written by a sleep-deprived zookeeper.
This one’s not that.
Told from the snarky point of view of a grumpy, judgmental turtle, 21 Turtle Truths You’ll Never Read in a Care Guide is packed with sarcasm, sass, and surprisingly useful insights.
And hey—you don’t have to commit to the whole thing just yet.
Grab 2 free truths from the ebook and get a taste of what your turtle really thinks about your setup, your food choices, and that weird plastic palm tree.
It’s funny, it’s honest, and if you’ve ever owned a turtle who glares at you like you’re the problem—you’ll feel seen.
Leatherbacks Mistake Balloons for Jellyfish
Different species, different struggles.
Leatherbacks swim the open ocean eating soft, squishy things like jellyfish—so they often swallow balloons and plastic bags.
Loggerheads hunt in the deep for over a decade before moving closer to shore.
Green turtles mostly graze on sea grass near the coast. That affects how much plastic they’re exposed to and how much ends up inside them.
But no matter the species, plastic finds a way in.
Are They Now Just Swimming Trash Bins?
It’s a brutal thought, but scientists are asking: are turtles and other sea creatures becoming mobile plastic carriers?
As they migrate, are they unknowingly moving bits of trash across the planet?
And here’s a scarier question—how much plastic is stored inside all ocean animals right now? We don’t even know. Because we’re not really checking.
They’re Carrying the Burden. We’re Looking Away.
If we care about sea turtles—and the ocean at all—this can’t be the end of the study.
We need more data. Better tracking. Smarter waste management. And the guts to face what we’ve done.
No turtle should have to carry a stomach full of garbage just to survive another day.
About Author
Muntaseer Rahman started keeping pet turtles back in 2013. He also owns the largest Turtle & Tortoise Facebook community in Bangladesh. These days he is mostly active on Facebook.
