The Plastic Problem
In one 8-minute net drag off the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, this is what turned up…
Photo Credit: David Liittschwager
And Hawaii’s one of the least-polluted marine sites investigated.
Meanwhile, in remote mountains in France, this is what’s floating through the air:
White plastic found in airborne samples. (Credit: Steve Allen, co-author of Atmospheric transport and deposition of microplastics in a remote mountain catchment. Nature Geoscience, May 2019)
Tiny plastic pieces called microplastics - hundreds of them landing every day in particulate collector systems in remote areas.
Everywhere scientists test now, plastics are there - and in ever more disturbing quantities. It’s a huge and growing problem - an existential one, really, for humanity.
How big of a problem is it?
- HOW MUCH PLASTIC GETS PRODUCED? - Globally, nearly half a billion tons is produced every year, 40% of it used just once.
- HOW MUCH GETS RECYCLED? - In the US, less than 10% of all plastic gets recycled. Globally it's less than 1/5th.
- HOW MUCH ENDS UP AS POLLUTION? - 8 million metric tons ends up in the ocean every year.
- BUT REALLY, HOW BIG IS THIS PLASTIC POLLUTION PROBLEM? - Every year, the equivalent of 5 plastic grocery bags stuffed with plastic are placed on every foot of coastline in the world - and then pushed into the ocean. And by 2025, those five bags are expected to be 10.
- SO WHAT'S THE FUTURE THEN? PLASTIC SOUP By 2050, the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than all fish combined. (Right now, the weight of plastic in the ocean is approaching 1/3 the weight of all fish.)
(See our Science In-Depth page to dig deeper into the research)
So what’s the big deal, though, about all that plastic in the ocean and elsewhere? Doesn’t it break down?
In a word, no. The best estimates for how long decomposition takes range between 450 years and NEVER.
In essence, we’ve created one of the most durable substances on Earth; it lasts effectively forever (at least on a human scale). And yet 40% of it is used just once, often for a matter of minutes.
But if it takes forever to break down, aside from being ugly, what’s the problem?
Well, it’s more complicated. It actually breaks down just enough so that fish eat it. Scientists call those smaller pieces microplastics. Those microplastics look like eggs or other food to many marine creatures.
Microplastics in plankton, illuminated by fluorescence. Matthew Cole, Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Originally published in Environmental Science & Technology 47 (12), May 2013.
Yuck! Does that mean we eat it too?
We do - plastics have been confirmed in more than 60 aquatic animals regularly eaten by humans. It has been confirmed in our tap water, our stools. Just from salt, the average human consumes 2000 microplastics per year. But the long-term health affects are the big question - we can’t say for sure what they are - scientists are racing to answer that question now. In general though, it’a a pretty disturbing question to have to ask: can eating plastic and having it accumulate in your organs be a benign thing?
Alright, I’m ready to read a little more about this.
Go to our Science In-Depth page, where you’ll find studies, research and many more facts like these:
