If you have walked on a beach, you have seen the flotsam of civilization: plastic water bottles, foam cups and food containers, cigarette butts, fishing lines and buoys, plastic bags, and lots more. While products made of wood, paper, or metal may decompose, none of our plastic waste is degradable. Virtually anything made of plastic eventually ends up in waterways or the ocean. All of this is considered marine debris. And it is only getting worse.
A Plethora of Plastics
Most of the plastic in existence has been created since 1950, and production of plastic waste has grown exponentially. According to a 2017 study, a total of 8.3 BILLION metric tons (capitalized for emphasis) of plastics had been produced, and 6.5 BILLION tons of plastic waste discarded. The authors predicted that discarded plastic waste will reach 12 Billion tons by 2050. In their words
“humans are conducting a singular uncontrolled experiment on a global scale, in which billions of metric tons of material will accumulate across all major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the planet”.
In 2010 alone, over 400 Million tons of plastic was produced, and 275 Million tons of plastic waste generated. In that same year, an estimated 12 Million tons of plastic waste entered the ocean. The capability of recycling plastic was virtually nonexistent before 1980, so less than 10% of it has actually been recycled. Even if we stopped producing plastic today, all of that discarded plastic will continue to degrade. As one scientist put it, we are sitting on a “plastic time bomb”.
While plastics cannot be degraded by biological processes, physical disturbance and direct sunlight cause them to break down into tiny, microscopic particles called microplastics or microfibers. While there is currently no international consensus on the size definitions, microplastics (MPs) are generally considered to be those particles in the size range of 1µm to 5 mm, whereas nanoparticles are those in the range 1-1000 µm (i.e. smaller than 1 mm). Microplastics have been found in every environment on earth; from the deep sea to Arctic snow; in shellfish, salt, drinking water, and ever beer. And at such small sizes, they are easily ingested and are incorporated into many of the foods we eat.
Ocean Pollution
Plastics and microplastics are accumulating in the ocean. An estimated 1.1 to 2.4 Million tons of plastics enters the ocean every year from riverine sources. Much of the plastic has accumulated into the eastern Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), between Hawaii and California. The GPGP is estimated to cover 1.6 million square kilometers (km2), and contain 79 thousand tons of discarded plastic, and 1.8 Trillion individual pieces of plastic, mostly as microplastics. That is an area roughly the size of Alaska, our largest state, or three times the size of France. Compounding the problem, there is another GPGP in the Western Pacific, near Japan, one each in the North and South Atlantic Oceans, and one in the Indian Ocean.
A survey of microplastics in the Pacific Ocean near Ecuador, conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2008, found 41 microplastic particles per cubic meter (#/m3) and estimated that those numbers would increase four-fold by 2030, and ten-fold by 2100.
Microplastics and nanoplastics are in all of our foods, and can have physical and toxic impacts on our health. To read the rest of this article, and learn about microplastics and nanoplastics in our food, their toxicity and sources (especially plastic bottles), become a paid subscriber.
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