Plastics In The Ocean Flashcards
How much plastic is there in the ocean?
Estimated 8.3 billion tonnes of virgin plastic has been produced to date. Of this plastic produced, it is estimated that 6.3 billion tonnes ends up in landfills or in the natural environment.
What happens to our plastic waste?
Approximately 10% of all plastic we use ends up in sea – much of this is plastic bottles, plastic bags, foam and packaging [UK bins around 16 million plastic bottles every day]
Plastic does not biodegrade easily – some sinks, some floats - over time it gets broken down into small plastic pieces and then into ‘microplastics’ by the sun (photo-degradation)
Recent global estimate of 8 million metric tons of plastic waste entering the ocean each year.
This is important because plastic kills wildlife in the oceans through entanglement and poisoning
Micro-plants are magnets for toxic chemicals which are then swallowed by marine life.
By 2050 the world’s oceans are expected to contain more plastics than fish by weight.
How is plastic in the sea distributed?
The global distribution of plastic waste entering the ocean is uneven
The global pattern of plastic waste
The amount of waste is affected by the countries size and by how developed a country is. The higher the GDP of a country is, the better the plastic is managed, this is because they have more funding. The countries producing the most plastic are the USA and China which are producing more than 10 million tonnes a year. a, which is shown to be 60-80%. On Africa there is a lot less plastic being produced, but the plastic is not managed adequately there.
The effects on marine life!
Toxic for sea surface feeders
Entanglement of marine life
How is plastic toxic for sea surface feeders
- due to the plastics size and colour, animals confuse the plastic for food floating on the surface of the GPGP (great pacific garbage patch) is 180x more plastic than marine life. Animals passing through or living in this area are then likely to consume the plastic in the patch. Since 84% of this plastic was found to have at least one persistent bio-accumulative toxic (PBT) chemical, the animals that consume this are therefore ingesting the chemicals attached to the plastic
Entanglement of marine life
Fishing nets account for 47% of the mass of the GPGP and they can be dangerous for animals who swim or colline into them, and cannot escape. This usually leads to the marine animal involved dying
What are the effects on humans?
Economic cost
Effects to the human food chain
Economic cost:
The yearly economic costs due to marine plastic is estimated to be between $6-19 billion. The costs stem from its impact on tourism, fisheries and aquaculture, and (governmental) cleanups. These costs do not include the impact on human health and the marine ecosystem
Effects to the human food chain:
It affects the human food chain through a process called bioaccumulation, chemicals in plastic will enter the body of the animal feeding on the plastic, and as the feeder becomes prey, the chemicals will pass to the predator and up the food chain, including humans. These chemicals that affected the plastic feeders could then be present within the human as well
The great pacific garbage patch (GPGP)
There are 5 main accumulations of plastic in the ocean.
The GPGP is the biggest
Coves an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometres
It is located between Hawaii and California
Ways to reduce plastics in the ocean at a global level:
In 2016 France passed a new
law to ensure that all plastic
cups, cutlery and plates can be
composted and are made of biologically sourced materials. The law will come into effect in 2020.
India’s capital city Delhi has introduced a ban on disposable plastic (2017). The ban affects the whole National Capital Territory (NCT) area of Delhi. Cutlery, bags, cups and other forms of single-use plastic were prohibited by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The Ocean Clean Up Project: The system consists of a long floater that sits at the surface of the water and skirt that hangs beneath it to scoop up and remove plastic from the ocean.
Ways to reduce plastics in the ocean, in the UK:
The law requires large shops in England to charge 5p for all single-use plastic carrier bags. Charging started on 5 October 2015.
As a shopper, you can avoid being charged by bringing your own bags. In some shops, you can buy thicker, reusable ‘bags for life’. Typically, you pay for these once, and can return them for a free replacement when they wear out.
Ways to reduce plastics in the ocean, companies and corporations:
Many coffee shops such as
Starbucks, Pret a Manger and
Costa now offer a discount for your hot drink if you bring a reusable coffee cup. The UK discards an estimated 2.5 billion coffee cups every year. Pret a Manger gives a discount of 50p per drink for bringing a reusable coffee cup.
Many restaurants are now making the switch from plastic straws to paper straws to reduce plastics entering the ocean. This year the first paper straw factory for several decades has opened in the UK as restaurants ditch the plastic straws. This year McDonald’s has said that it will phase out all plastic straws from UK restaurants – it is trialling the use of paper straws.
Many companies are now seeking alternative materials to plastics. E.g. pela phone cases
Ways to reduce plastics in the ocean, what we ourselves can do
Reducing use of single-use plastics and recycling the plastic that we do use.
E.g. Shopping in no-waste supermarkets. There is no packaging and customers bring their own containers to fill up.
