31/01/2018 Newsround

Hi, I'm Ricky with your

Wednesday morning news hit.

Here's what's coming up...

Are romances at school

affecting your results?

Plus - The bots giving Wall-E

a run for his money.

Keep watching!

Good morning - I'm Ricky,

here with your Wednesday

morning news hit.

First today, you'll probably

have heard about the big

question of the moment -

how can we cut the amount of plastic

we use and throw away?

More than eight million tonnes

of plastic ends up in the world's

oceans each year.

That's a truckload every minute!

So, what's the problem with plastic?

Martin's been finding out...

These are trash islands

in the Caribbean.

It looks like a stretch

of land but it's floating

rubbish like plastic bags,

spoons and bottles.

They are created by

currents in the ocean.

Sadly, this is not the only place

in the world where plastic

pollution is a problem.

Plastic is all around

the planet on every shoreline,

it's even down to the deep ocean,

places we have never visited.

We go there for the first time

and our rubbish has beaten us there.

Back in the day, milk and fizzy

drinks used to be bought in glass

bottles and food would be

mostly wrapped in paper.

Now, plastic is in lots

of things we use every day,

and it IS really useful.

300 million tonnes are produced each

year, but 40% of that is for stuff

we will only use once

before it's thrown away,

like straws, crisp packets,

bottles and carrier bags.

How does plastic end

up in the ocean?

Some of it is blown in,

lots of it comes from rivers,

some can come a long way,

some from ships at sea,

Some is left by tourists on beaches.

Some enters by the toilet.

There's a whole range of ways

plastic can get there,

the problem is once it's there,

that is where it will stay.

Scientists are warning that

within the next 30 years the amount

of plastic in our oceans

could outweigh the fish.

Each year, 100,000 animals

in the sea are killed by plastic.

It can hurt or trap

them, and they can also

mistake it for food.

One in three sea turtles and almost

90% of sea birds have eaten it.

When the fish leaves the ocean

and it ends up on our dinner table,

are we eating plastic as well?

We recently looked at fish collected

locally, of 500 fish we found

a third had small quantities

of plastic in their gut.

It's not a cause for concern

for eating those fish,

the quantities are quite small,

unless we do something about it

the quantities in fish,

birds and will increase.

There are lots of groups trying

to help tackle plastic pollution

and the government is promising

to do more.

But there are ways we can

all help right now.

Here are Richard's top tips.

Make sure you always

throw your rubbish in the bin.

If you don't need

something, don't use it.

And of course, recycle when you can.

If you want to know more about how

plastic affects our planet head over

to Newsround online where we've got

a full guide.

Next, are teen romances

bad for your grades?

Well, that's what one headteacher

in North Wales thinks,

so much so that he wrote

to his pupils telling

them to avoid them.

Well, let's hear what some

Year 10s think ...

I don't think teachers

should be allowed to tell

you what you want to do

because it's your private life

and you should be able

to do what you want.

If you have a boyfriend

or girlfriend, you won't be

able to think straight,

but you could be the same

about friends or family problems.

It can be a distraction.

Situations where people are not

revising or doing the work.

It may be on everyone else's mind

whether you will break up, so that

would cause a lot of drama

between not just the people

involved in the relationship

but everybody around them.

If it affects their grades

personally, then that

could be fair enough,

but to say it to a whole group

of people when you don't know

if it's affecting them or not,

I think it's unfair.

What you do in your free time is up

to you, if you choose to revise

and do the studying then you will

get the best grades, it's up

to you what you choose to do.

Well, that's what they thought,

but what about you?

You've been voting online

and can you believe it,

you are completely split -

half of you think teen romances

are bad for your grades

and half of you don't.

Here's some of the

comments you left.

One person said "It depends on how

seriously you are taking

the relationship -

if it's the only thing

you're thinking about then it

will affect your grades."

Another said "It's about

how you use your time.

Maybe if you study with your

boyfriend/girlfriend,

it will not affect your grades,

rather improve them."

And what about this one:

"Teachers can't get

in the way of relationships.

It is your private

business not theirs!"

Thanks for all your comments guys!

Finally - move over,

Wall-E, there are some

new cleaning droids in town.

These four dirt-busting bots

were put through their paces

at a train station in Germany.

They raced against each other

as part of a contest to choose

a new cleaning machine to keep

the German stations spick and span.

I think this guy needs

to get a wriggle on!

That's your lot for this morning.

Newsround's back this afternoon.

Have a great day.