Plastic Pollution: The Global Production And Consumption Of Plastics

The global production and consumption of plastic is enormous. In 2012, 288 million metric tons of plastic were produced worldwide (“Tiny plastic,” 2015). In a report on environmental issues, the United Nations published that in just a decade, between 2004 and 2014, global plastic production increased by 38 percent (Forster, 2016).
Plastic is used everywhere and for everything, as it has important advantages such as being relatively inexpensive, practical, versatile and durable. However, these factors are also responsible for the fact that plastic is a long-lasting pollutant that persists in the environment for a very long time. Not only does it not biodegrade, but it accumulates and so do the negative impacts. Marine plastic pollution is harmful

(“Washing Clothes,” 2016). East Asia is one the places with the highest concentration of microplastics, with 27 times more plastic found in the seas around Japan than elsewhere in the world. Scientist Jacquie McGlade emphasized the abundance of microplastic particles in deep-sea sediments and Mongolian mountain lakes (Forster, 2016). Ocean currents transport microplastics far from their origin and are the reason for the accumulation of plastic waste in remote waters. In oceans around Antarctica around 50000 plastic particles per square kilometer have been found (Hanna & Power, 2016). The planet's weather system, specifically storms and winds, also impact the distribution of marine debris (Leous & Parry,

Abigail Barrows, principal investigator of the Global Microplastics Initiative, evaluated almost 2,000 aquatic samples and found that about 90% of the debris was microfibers (Messinger, 2016 scary science section). Synthetic fibers from artificial fabrics released through domestic washing machines account for a major part of microplastic pollution (Forster, 2016). Research conducted at the University of California at Santa Barbara found that each wash of a synthetic fleece jacket releases an average 1.7 grams of microfibers. After going through the wastewater treatment plant up to 40% end up in the world’s waters (Messinger, 2016). Plymouth University conducted a study to find out specific data about the mass, abundance and size of these synthetic fibers. Polyester, acrylic and polyester-cotton items were washed at standard temperatures of 30°C and 40°C with different detergent and fabric conditioners. The results concluded that the average washing of 6kg could release over 700,000 microscopic fibers that end up in the wastewater after passing through sewage treatments. The polyester-cotton blend was consistently found to shed the least fibers and polyester the most (“Washing Clothes,” 2016). The effort of outdoor companies like Polartec to recycle plastic bottles has proved to be doing more harm than intended, as the plastic ultimately also reaches the