Plastic Pollution in Oceans
Introduction: Our Oceans
The phrase “eventually, everything ends up in our oceans” is so simple yet true. Another phrase you’ve probably heard is “save our oceans”. The careful usage of the word “our” in these phrases is quite deliberate. Adding the word “our” makes whoever hears this phrase feel more responsible for the livelihood and longevity of the bodies of water. When the oceans are advertised as our own, humans naturally feel more protective over them. There are many websites that are dedicated to making humans feel more passionate about saving the oceans. To exemplify this, on the homepage of a website called biologicaldiversity.org the phrase “Ocean Plastic Pollution: A Global Tragedy for Our Oceans and Sea Life” is bolded. It aims to catch the reader’s attention and pull at their heartstrings by adding the word “our”. Another example of a website enlisting the word “our” when regarding oceans is conservation.org. It uses the slogan “Protect Our Oceans” and lists many startling facts about marine life. According to conservation.org, “each year by weight, three times more trash is dumped into the ocean than fish caught”. This is wildly disturbing to think about especially since littering and trash pollution are well known topics. We were all taught from an early age that if you litter it will most likely end up in our oceans. What you do not throw away in its proper place will eventually make its way into the sewers on a rainy day and we all know those sewers dump directly into the oceans. Even though this concept was taught to us at such a young age it still holds true today. It is alarming to see the rate at which microplastic and plastic debris is increasing. Such large quantities of debris have ended up in the oceans around the world and there are a multitude of factors that play into the spatial distribution of this debris. “But there has recently been an explosive increase in anthropogenic debris as a result of massive amounts of plastic entering the oceans -- for example, the amount of debris doubled from 1994 to 1998 around the coastline of the United Kingdom, and in parts of the Southern Ocean it increased 100-fold during the early 1990s” (Barnes). While some of the debris is natural 20-80% of it comes from humans and our footprint (Barnes).
Plastic On The Wildlife
While littering in is an awful concept and is worth a fine there are even more severe impacts of these actions. This directly affects fish, sea turtles, seabirds, and more marine mammals. In the North Pacific some fish ingest anywhere from 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic each year (Ocean Plastics Pollution). This not only causes injuries within the fish’s intestines but also transfers plastic further up the food chain as bigger marine animals eat these fish. From Ocean Plastics Pollution, “a quarter of fish at markets in California contained plastic in their guts, mostly in the form of plastic microfibers''. This number is shocking and shows the cyclical nature of plastic pollution. This is the perfect example of what goes around comes around. Meaning that by polluting the oceans it ends up harming the human population too. Not only are fish affected by plastic pollution but so are sea turtles. They easily mistake floating plastic garbage as food. This ends up hurting the turtles in two distinct ways. By ingesting plastic, they can choke, contract an internal injury, and potentially die. Another issue occurs when turtles eat lots of plastic therefore thinking they are full, and this leads to them starving. They think they are eating “food” when in actuality it is just plastic pollution. Another startling statistic is “hundreds of thousands of seabirds ingest plastic every year” (Ocean Plastics Pollution). Over 60% of all seabird species have been found with stomachs full of plastic which shows just how much plastic we have in our oceans. Microplastics also pose a great danger to fish. When fish bring in water via their gills, the tiny plastics slip through the cracks resulting in awful health problems (Umapathy). As rePurpose writes it,”… microscopic marine debris could take up to six times as long for the animal to rid themselves of in comparison to ingesting the debris orally.” Plastic does not only affect smaller marine animals; it also heavily impacts larger mammals. “Large amounts of plastic debris have been found in the habitat of critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals, including in areas that serve as pup nurseries” writes Ocean Plastics Pollution. Just like sea turtles, whales are known to confuse plastic debris for food (Umapathy). Baleen whales specifically have such large mouths that they pick up plastic debris on their hunt for food. (Umapathy). The plastic punctures and tears the whale's stomach lining which leads to starvation and death. A global blog called rePurpose states that, “Out of the 61 dead whales recovered in the Davao Gulf, 45 of them died from the consumption of plastic waste”. Another animal affected by plastic pollution are sea lions; however, the concerns are a bit different for sea lions than other mammals. As stated earlier most sea animals have tendencies of ingesting plastics, sea lions on the contrary are more prone to getting tangled in plastic bits. The most common threats to their lives are plastic packing bands, rubber bands and fishing lines (Umapathy). There was a study done on eastern Steller sea lions which are on the brink of extinction, and they found rubber bands and plastic packaging bands which were usually the two items to show up around the necks of sea lions (Umapathy). Unfortunately, the Steller sea lion population has declined by 80% in the past 4 decades (Umapathy). Another alarming statistic from rePurpose, “An eight-year study in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia documented 388 sea lions entangled in plastic debris.” This is so sickening as endangered species do not need another factor contributing to their decline. Plastic in its form is not dangerous or poisonous unlike some other chemicals that end up in the ocean. It is just the sheer quantity of plastic in the ocean that makes it so hazardous. The rate at which plastic pollution is increasing will not be sustainable.
Human Health Risks
Since plastic has become an impending danger there has been some research on showing the human health impacts of plastic. Plastic waste has blocked rivers and some drainage systems which causes flooding (Briley). This also causes stagnant water to get trapped which intensifies the spread of diseases (Briley). Additionally, openly burning plastic waste pollutes the air and water and releases toxic chemicals as well as greenhouse gas emissions into the air (Briley). Plastics getting filtered through gills of fish poses a huge danger to not only the fish but also humans. When a human eats a fish that has plastic in their system, that toxic material then makes its way back into the food chains. From rePurpose, “the fish humans continue to consume have at one time or another ingested plastic microfibers, including brown trout, cisco, and perch”. The consequences of plastic pollution are not solely limited to the ocean. There are more widespread effects such as the ones affecting humans.
The Plastic Age
Over the past decade the levels of plastic pollution in oceans have augmented exponentially. Some scientists have cautioned against humankind leaving so much plastic in the oceans. Future archaeologists will be able to call this era the Plastic Age because of the sheer amount of pollution in the natural world. Another statistic says that 11 million metric tons of plastic are dumped each year into the oceans (Briley). This amount is suspected to triple by 2040 if there is no widespread plan to change this (Briley). Plastic in the oceans comes in so many different forms. There are food containers, shopping bags, toothbrushes, bubble wrap, toys, straws, household appliances and a plethora of other forms (Briley). The sad thing is that this plastic pollution has been found almost along every coastline on the earth and of course throughout the seas. Some of the most obscure regions have been found with plastic debris as well. According to the PEW, “…if current production, distribution, consumption, and disposal continue at their current pace, 29 million metric tons of plastic would enter the ocean annually by 2040, the equivalent of dumping 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of plastic on every meter of coastline around the world.”
Conclusion solution: How to save our oceans
However daunting it may seem there is still time and resources available to reverse the increasing levels of plastic trend. PEW has looked at scenarios that could aim to reduce plastics. There would need to be a big revamp of plastic designs from the production, disposal, use, sale, and recycling of these products. If some of these strategies could be implemented there would be an annual plastic flow reduction of approximately 80% by the year 2040 (Briley). So as stated previously there are two ways the oceans can look in the year 2040, either with triple the amount of plastic than already there or an 80% reduction in plastic levels. Involvement and action by government and industry leaders would be crucial to changing anything. Winnie Lau, a senior manager of Pew’s Ocean plastics program comments, “we don’t have to wait for any new invention or new technology to put a big dent in the problem.” But, she says, “the work must start now. Waiting even five years would allow an additional 80 million metric tons of plastic to enter the ocean.” Plastic is made from oil and was invented in the 19th century, but its general usage and distribution did not occur until the mid-20th century (Briley). The production of plastic sky-rocketed from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to 348 million metric tons in 2017. There was a time in history where plastic was not as widespread as it is today and reverting to those earlier times would be beneficial for the oceans. There are multiple steps that Lau claims are “immediate, ambitious, and concerted actions”. There are 8 steps: reduce plastic production, substitute paper and compostable materials, design products and packaging for recycling, design products and packages that are recyclable, expand waste collection rates in middle- and lower-income countries, increase mechanical recycling, develop plastic-to-plastic chemical recycling, build facilities that don’t allow plastic to leak out and finally reduce plastic waste exports (Briley). These are just some of the many steps that need to be taken in order to reduce the negative impact of plastic pollution in our oceans.
Works Cited
Ocean Plastics Pollution, Center for Biological Diversity , www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/.
Umapathy, Afrah, et al. “What Is The Effect of Ocean Plastics On Marine Life?: RePurpose Global Blog.” RePurpose Global: Empowering the World to Go Plastic Neutral, 13 Jan. 2021, repurpose.global/letstalktrash/what-is-the-effect-of-ocean-plastic-on-marine-life/.
Briley , J. (n.d.). Confronting Ocean Plastic Pollution. The Pew Charitable Trusts. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/fall-2020/confronting-ocean-plastic-pollution.
Umapathy, A. (2021, January 13). What Is The Effect of Ocean Plastics On Marine Life?: rePurpose Global Blog. rePurpose Global: Empowering the World to Go Plastic Neutral. https://repurpose.global/letstalktrash/what-is-the-effect-of-ocean-plastic-on-marine-life/.
Barnes, David K. “Invasions by Marine Life on Plastic Debris.” Nature, vol. 416, no. 6883, 25 Apr. 2002, pp. 808–809., doi:10.1038/416808a.
Clark, James R, et al. “Marine Microplastic Debris: a Targeted Plan for Understanding and Quantifying Interactions with Marine Life.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, vol. 14, no. 6, Aug. 2016, pp. 317–324., doi:10.1002/fee.1297.
“Protect Our Oceans.” Conservation International, www.conservation.org/act/protect-our-oceans.