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Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created solid material that has deliberately or accidentally been released in seas or the ocean. Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or tidewrack. Deliberate disposal of wastes at sea is called ocean dumping. Naturally occurring debris, such as driftwood and drift seeds, are also present. With the increasing use of plastic, human influence has become an issue as many types of (petrochemical) plastics do not biodegrade quickly, as would natural or organic materials. The largest single type of plastic pollution (~10%) and majority of large plastic in the oceans is discarded and lost nets from the fishing industry. Waterborne plastic poses a serious threat to fish, seabirds, marine reptiles, and marine mammals, as well as to boats and coasts.
The Great Pacific garbage patch is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America.
Plastic pellet pollution is a type of marine debris originating from the plastic particles that are universally used to manufacture large-scale plastics. In the context of plastic pollution, these pre-production plastic pellets are commonly known as 'nurdles'. These microplastics are created separately from the user plastics they are melted down to form, and pellet loss can occur during both the manufacturing and transport stages. When released into the open environment, they create persistent pollution both in the oceans and on beaches. About 230,000 tonnes of nurdles are thought to be deposited in the oceans each year, where they are often mistaken for food by seabirds, fish and other wildlife. Due to their small size, they are notoriously difficult to clear up from beaches and elsewhere.
A garbage patch is a gyre of marine debris particles caused by the effects of ocean currents and increasing plastic pollution by human populations. These human-caused collections of plastic and other debris are responsible for ecosystem and environmental problems that affect marine life, contaminate oceans with toxic chemicals, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Once waterborne, marine debris becomes mobile. Flotsam can be blown by the wind, or follow the flow of ocean currents, often ending up in the middle of oceanic gyres where currents are weakest.
Marine plastic pollution is a type of marine pollution by plastics, ranging in size from large original material such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the fragmentation of plastic material. Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats on, or is suspended in the ocean. Eighty percent of marine debris is plastic. Microplastics and nanoplastics result from the breakdown or photodegradation of plastic waste in surface waters, rivers or oceans. Recently, scientists have uncovered nanoplastics in heavy snow, more specifically about 3,000 tons that cover Switzerland yearly.
The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey is one of the longest running marine biological monitoring programmes in the world. Started in 1931 by Sir Alister Hardy and Sir Cyril Lucas, the Survey provides marine scientists and policy-makers with measures of plankton communities, coupled with ocean physical, biological and chemical observations, on a pan-oceanic scale. The Survey is a globally recognised leader on the impacts of environmental change on the health of our oceans.
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be molded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptability, plus a wide range of other properties, such as being lightweight, durable, flexible, and inexpensive to produce, has led to their widespread use. Plastics typically are made through human industrial systems. Most modern plastics are derived from fossil fuel-based chemicals like natural gas or petroleum; however, recent industrial methods use variants made from renewable materials, such as corn or cotton derivatives.
The North Atlantic garbage patch is a garbage patch of man-made marine debris found floating within the North Atlantic Gyre, originally documented in 1972. A 22-year research study conducted by the Sea Education Association estimates the patch to be hundreds of kilometers across, with a density of more than 200,000 pieces of debris per square kilometer. The garbage originates from human-created waste traveling from rivers into the ocean and mainly consists of microplastics. The garbage patch is a large risk to wildlife through plastic consumption and entanglement.
Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than 5 mm (0.20 in) in length, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Chemicals Agency. They cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a variety of sources, including cosmetics, clothing, food packaging, and industrial processes. The term microplastics is used to differentiate from larger, non-microscopic plastic waste. Two classifications of microplastics are currently recognized. Primary microplastics include any plastic fragments or particles that are already 5.0 mm in size or less before entering the environment. These include microfibers from clothing, microbeads, plastic glitter and plastic pellets. Secondary microplastics arise from the degradation (breakdown) of larger plastic products through natural weathering processes after entering the environment. Such sources of secondary microplastics include water and soda bottles, fishing nets, plastic bags, microwave containers, tea bags and tire wear. Both types are recognized to persist in the environment at high levels, particularly in aquatic and marine ecosystems, where they cause water pollution. 35% of all ocean microplastics come from textiles/clothing, primarily due to the erosion of polyester, acrylic, or nylon-based clothing, often during the washing process. However, microplastics also accumulate in the air and terrestrial ecosystems. Because plastics degrade slowly, microplastics have a high probability of ingestion, incorporation into, and accumulation in the bodies and tissues of many organisms. The toxic chemicals that come from both the ocean and runoff can also biomagnify up the food chain. In terrestrial ecosystems, microplastics have been demonstrated to reduce the viability of soil ecosystems and reduce weight of earthworms. As of 2023, the cycle and movement of microplastics in the environment was not fully known. Deep layer ocean sediment surveys in China (2020) show the presence of plastics in deposition layers far older than the invention of plastics, leading to suspected underestimation of microplastics in surface sample ocean surveys.
An ecobrick is a plastic bottle densely packed with used plastic to create a reusable building block that achieves plastic sequestration.The concept behind ecobricks is to utilize and upcycle post consumer plastic, benefiting our Earth. These plastic bottles are precisely packed with clean and dry used plastic to avoid the growth of bacteria. Ecobricks can be used to produce various items, including furniture, garden walls and other structures. These plastic packed bottles are produced primarily as a means of managing consumed plastic by sequestering it and containing it safely, by terminally reducing the net surface area of the packed plastic to effectively secure the plastic from degrading into toxins and microplastics. Ecobricking is a both an individual and collaborative endeavor. The ecobricking movement promotes the personal ecobricking process as a strategy to raise awareness of the consequences of consumption and the dangers of plastic. It also promotes the collaborative process as a way to encourage communities to take collective responsibility for their used plastic and to use it to produce a useful product.
Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized by size into micro-, meso-, or macro debris. Plastics are inexpensive and durable, making them very adaptable for different uses; as a result, manufacturers choose to use plastic over other materials. However, the chemical structure of most plastics renders them resistant to many natural processes of degradation and as a result they are slow to degrade. Together, these two factors allow large volumes of plastic to enter the environment as mismanaged waste which persists in the ecosystem and travels throughout food webs.
The plastisphere is a human-made ecosystem consisting of organisms able to live on plastic waste. Plastic marine debris, most notably microplastics, accumulates in aquatic environments and serves as a habitat for various types of microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi. As of 2022, an estimated 51 trillion microplastics are floating in the surface water of the world's oceans. A single 5mm piece of plastic can host 1,000s of different microbial species. Some marine bacteria can break down plastic polymers and use the carbon as a source of energy.
Abigail P. W. Barrows is an American marine research scientist and advocate based in Maine. Barrows directs microplastics research that is used to inform conservation-focused legislation, and she initiated the first baseline data map of microplastic pollution distribution in the waters off the coast of Maine.
The Shaw Institute, formerly the Marine & Environmental Research Institute, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific research organization based in Blue Hill, Maine and New York City. The institute conducts research into ocean pollution, flame retardants, microplastics and plastic pollution, sentinel species and climate change.
Beach cleaning or clean-up is the process of removing solid litter, dense chemicals, and organic debris deposited on a beach or coastline by the tide, local visitors, or tourists. Humans pollute beaches with materials such as plastic bottles and bags, plastic straws, fishing gear, cigarette filters, six-pack rings, surgical masks and many other items that often lead to environmental degradation. Every year hundreds of thousands of volunteers comb beaches and coastlines around the world to clean this debris. These materials are also called "marine debris" or "marine pollution" and their quantity has been increasing due to anthropocentric activities.
Tamara Susan Galloway is a British marine scientist and Professor of Ecotoxicology at the University of Exeter. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Birthday Honours.
Chelsea Marina Rochman is an American marine and freshwater ecologist whose research focuses on anthropogenic stressors in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Since September 2016, Rochman has been an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a scientific advisor to the Ocean Conservancy.
Max Liboiron is a Canadian researcher and designer known for their contributions to the study of plastic pollution and citizen science.
The Mediterranean Sea has been defined as one of the seas most affected by marine plastic pollution.
Trisia Angela Farrelly is a New Zealand professor of social anthropologist and Honorary Fellow of Massey University, specializing in science-policy and systems approaches to preventing and reducing plastic pollution. Farrelly coordinates the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, with a membership of more than 400 members from over 60 countries. She co-founded the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance and the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council. Farrelly is also a Technical Advisor to the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and a senior editor of the journal Cambridge Prisms: Plastics.
References
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- ↑ Buranyi, Stephen (31 December 2019). "The missing 99%: why can't we find the vast majority of ocean plastic?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-01-02– via www.theguardian.com.
- ↑ "Plastic pollution with Richard Thompson" on The Life Scientific, BBC Radio 4
- ↑ Thompson, Richard C.; Olsen, Ylva; Mitchell, Richard P.; Davis, Anthony; Rowland, Steven J.; John, Anthony W. G.; McGonigle, Daniel; Russell, Andrea E. (2004). "Lost at Sea: Where is All the Plastic?". Science. 304 (5672): 838. doi:10.1126/science.1094559. PMID 15131299. S2CID 3269482.
- ↑ Thompson, Andrea. "Earth Has a Hidden Plastic Problem—Scientists Are Hunting It Down". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ↑ "To Save the Oceans, Should You Give Up Glitter?". National Geographic News. 30 November 2017. Archived from the original on September 25, 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ↑ "Microplastic waste: This massive (tiny) threat to sea life is now in every ocean". The Independent. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- 1 2 "Professor Richard Thompson OBE – University of Plymouth". www.plymouth.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ↑ Maps, University of Plymouth Drake Circus Plymouth Devon PL4 8AA United Kingdom +44 1752 600600; vacancies, directions Visit us Job. "International Marine Litter Research Unit team". University of Plymouth. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Richard Thompson on Twitter
- ↑ "Scientist About Us". Ikhapp. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
- ↑ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2746
- ↑ "World leader in microplastic research receives award from the Zoological Society of London". University of Plymouth. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ↑ "Marsh Christian Trust – Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation". www.marshchristiantrust.org. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ↑ "Prestigious awards honour the stars of conservation science". British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums . Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ↑ "Professor Richard Thompson made an OBE for services to marine science". University of Plymouth. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- ↑ "Richard Thompson". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ↑ "2022".
- ↑ "Announcing the 2023 Blue Planet Prize Laureates".
- ↑ "TIME100 Health". TIME. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
- ↑ https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/71067776-e304-44e4-a18e-eda74c8b4bb2
- ↑ https://theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/13/godfather-microplastics-richard-thompson-how-to-stop-them
- ↑ https://theconversation.com/everywhere-we-looked-we-found-evidence-the-godfather-of-microplastics-on-20-years-of-pollution-research-and-the-fight-for-global-action-226418
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