The
advent of plastic has drastically changed the way we live our lives; integrated
into almost every facet of our day-to-day living, from brushing your teeth in
the morning to drinking your favourite coffee. Even for such basic needs we
rely on the production AND disposal of plastic - it is nigh on impossible to
avoid!
The characteristics of plastic gave rise to this
“revolution”, albeit a disastrous one environmentally speaking. Low cost and
ease of manufacture peaked interest, that along with properties such as its versatility,
strength and resistance to water have made it applicable to innumerable needs
of modern society. Perhaps enabling further creation of false needs as a
self-perpetuating cycle to ensure we continue consuming material goods? New
iPhone anyone?
The waste stream of plastic is, as you would expect,
immense. Irresponsible disposal practices of items such as, single-use bottles, have led to the release of plastic waste into the environment. A
scientific study
[2] calculated that 275 million metric tons of plastic was generated
in 192 coastal countries in 2010, of which 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons
entered the oceans. The scale is huge.
Jacques Yves Cousteau articulated:
“Water and air, the
two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage
cans.”
 |
Marine debris
on a beach in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. By U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Headquarters [CC BY 2.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) or Public domain], via Wikimedia
Commons
|
A significant problem
occurs because plastics do not biodegrade. Under the influence of sunlight
however, plastics fragment into small particles known as
microplastics. Lives
of marine organisms throughout our oceans are devastatingly impacted by plastic and microplastic as they become entangled with it, leading to suffocation, or they ingest it - marine
mammals are most affected by entanglement, whereas marine birds suffer most from
ingestion.
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Dead
Albatross with ingested plastic. By Chris Jordan (via U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Headquarters), via Wikimedia Commons
|
Plastics contain harmful chemicals that, when marine
organisms ingest microplastics, leach out and enter the food web. This creates
serious and far reaching threats that are
not
limited to marine organisms – millions of people rely on fish as their
primary source of protein.
[1]
As we move forward, increasingly there are signs of
reduction in the use of plastic and the promotion of more responsible waste
management
solutions, such as recycling. Education undoubtedly plays a
substantial role in creating awareness of such consequential issues and can lay
the foundation for future generations to live in a more harmonious way with our
planet. However, our work is not yet done. Many organisations are working
towards cleaning our oceans and in a future post I’ll be sharing the information
of a variety of such organisations, so why not get involved?
- Ben
References:
[1] Hammer, J., Kraak, M.H.S. and Parsons, J.R., 2012. Plastics in the Marine Environment: The Dark Side of a Modern Gift. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 220, doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-3414-6_1
[2] Jambeck, J. R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T. R.,
Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R. and Law, K. L., 2015. Plastic waste
inputs from land into the ocean. Science 347, doi: 10.1126/science.1260352
