Results: Reunited (And It Doesn't Feel So Good)

In the 1990s Stella Wedell was 12 years old and vacationing on the Spanish island of Mallorca when she lost her cassette which featured singles from Shaggy and Bob Marley and the Wailers. Years later, she happened to be at an art exhibit in Stockholm, Sweden, when she saw her tape on display. It had washed ashore on a beach on a Spanish island off the coast of Africa, nearly 2000 km from where it was lost and was retrieved by British photographer Mandy Barker, who documents plastic pollution. Barker had the tape professionally restored. She included the tracklisting alongside the tape in her travel exhibition "Sea of Artifacts." Do you find this surprising?

Besides being an amazing story of lost things found, it is even more a comment on the problem of plastic pollution. While plastic is an integral part of modern society, this "miracle material" has a downside. It's estimated that 1 billion tons of plastic have been discarded since the 1950s and research suggests it will take up to 500 years for some forms to biodegrade. A recent report warns an estimated 8 million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean every minute, a number that's expected to double by 2050 if no action is taken. If the situation continues, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean in thirty years, according to the report. Do you find this alarming?

Most plastic is not recycled, and does end up in landfills, garbage cans and worst of all, oceans, lakes and rivers. Were you aware of how long it takes these plastic items to decompose?

How about some other materials -- did you know how long they take to decompose?