The next time you’re at the beach, take a look around. You’ll probably see sand, seashells and that perfectly blue, crystal-clear ocean. But if you take a closer look, you might notice something else nestled in amongst that picturesque scenery: perhaps a plastic bottle half-buried in the sand, a fishing net that you might have mistaken for some seaweed, or a plastic bag floating on the water.
Today we’re looking at another battle being fought alongside climate change: plastic pollution. An equally serious environmental crisis, the war against plastic has been raging for decades. And, like climate change, the negative repercussions affect us more than we think.
First of all, what is plastic? Plastic is a synthetic material that can be moulded into virtually any shape. It’s lightweight, durability and high versatility make it a very useful material. Combine that with its relatively low cost of production and plastic consumption has exploded since its invention in 1907 (bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, invented by Leo Baekeland).
So, what’s the problem with plastic? The biggest problem with plastic is the fact that they are non-biodegradable. This means that they don’t decompose in nature, instead breaking into smaller and smaller pieces until they are so small that they can only be seen under a microscope, which can take hundreds of years. These tiny plastic particles are known as microplastics. Recent studies have found that microplastics are everywhere, from the food we eat to the air we breathe. They have made their way into our soil and water reserves, contaminating our food and water. Because microplastics are still a relatively new problem, there is limited knowledge as to what extent microplastics harm human health, but so far it is clear that there are indeed negative effects.
Furthermore, many plastics are made from crude oil, a fossil fuel, so they aren’t very eco-friendly to begin with already. Plastic production also consumes huge amounts of energy, accounting for around 3.4% of our yearly CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, most of our plastic waste is improperly disposed of and ends up in landfills, where they pile up or eventually wind up in our oceans. The former can leach harmful chemicals into the environment as the plastics slowly break down, especially if they are burned. The latter is a matter of growing concern, with over 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean and growing. Plastic can now be found everywhere in the ocean, from the surface of the water to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean (over 10,000 metres deep!). There is so much plastic that entire islands of plastic waste have formed in the middle of the oceans. These “islands” are known as garbage patches, areas where the ocean currents deposit plastic. The largest of all garbage patches is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which has grown to 3 times the size of France!
Plastic is incredibly harmful to marine wildlife. It is often mistaken for food and ingested by fish, where it remains in the fish’s stomach and doesn’t digest. This makes the fish feel full and therefore it doesn’t eat, which can eventually lead to starvation and death. Sea creatures, especially juveniles, can also get tangled in plastic waste, which can suffocate them or permanently restrict their movement. Another problem caused by the ingestion of plastic is what is known as biomagnification. Put simply, it’s when toxic substances build up as you move up the food chain. Take for example, a sardine eats some zooplankton that has been contaminated with microplastics, becoming contaminated as well. The sardine is then eaten by a mackerel, which is eaten by a tuna. But that tuna isn’t going to eat just one mackerel, and if each of mackerel the tuna ate had previously consumed a few sardines that were contaminated with microplastics, that means that the tuna has ingested much more microplastic than that first sardine. And unfortunately for us, humans are at the very top of the food web, so when we fish that tuna out of the ocean to eat, we’re also consuming all the microplastics that had built up from the bottom of the food chain.
Sadly, we’re currently losing this battle against plastic pollution - find out why in our next article.
Credits:
Image - New Atlas
Information - BBC, OECD, The Ocean Cleanup, National Geographic, National Geographic
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