One individual creates four and a half pounds of waste each day compared to two and a half pounds per person from the 1960s. With this increased amount of waste, there are limited amounts of outlets for trash to be properly discarded. Most of this litter travels to oceans and endangers marine life and their habitats. The main types of debris that cause the most harm to oceanic organisms are plastics from varying sources such as landfills and human recreation, trap ropes used for fishing, and remnants from human recreation. Plastic is the most harmful form of debris to marine life because it has the tendency to break down into minute sizes similar to zooplankton, which is a major food source to some marine animals. Micro-plastic concentrates in the surface water of the ocean, where many zooplankton and additional food sources live. Organisms that come to the surface to feed on zooplankton instead consume astounding amounts of plastic. These plastics do not provide nutritional value as well as introduce potential dangers to the internal organs of the animal ingesting the waste such as perforating stomach linings, blocking digestive tracts, preventing normal feeding habits, diluting diets, and ingestion of chemicals from plastics (Schuyler, Hardesty, Wilcox, & Townsend 1). Marine pollution not only destroys the habitats of marine life, but also affects the species that inhabit the oceans by contaminating their food and endangering their health.
Mass plastic production began in the 1950s. Even though large amounts of plastic began being generated, the amount of waste was “estimate[d]… [to be] three to four orders of magnitude lower [than current societal statistics] and restricted to more degradable items” (Barnes 1988). The decades ...
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...rganized in many countries and on every continent” (Barnes 1985). Along with aid from non-profit organizations and volunteers, MARPOL Annex V “addresses solid waste [such as] domestic garbage, including galley waste and food packaging…old fishing gear… and cargo-related garbage” (Clean Ships 16) that is often discarded from ships.
Without the maintenance of oceans, the use of saltwater will be restricted or terminated, preventing a large amount of human activities such as fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, and general enjoyment. The amount of micro-plastic and macro-plastic cannot be severely decreased in a short amount of time, but differences can be made over long periods of time. Recycling, removing litter, and preventing loss of non-biodegradable products can help lower the amount of plastic debris present in the surface water and different levels of the ocean.
According to Laura Parker, a Senior Staff Writer for National Geographic, 40% of plastic is manufactured for single use, and 91% of all plastic manufactured never gets recycled.3 One of the most detrimental types of single-use plastics are microbeads, tiny plastic bits used in various cosmetic products that get washed into sewer systems and ultimately end up in our oceans. Other plastic products also become as small as some microbeads over time through the process of degradation, which turns otherwise-large plastic products into dangerous microplastics. The problem of microplastics was first realized in 2004, and the first assessment of its prominence was carried out as recently as 2015.3 As for the dilemma of the Garbage Patch itself, it was brought to the world’s attention by Charles Moore who discovered the patch in
People are hurting the animals, and they don’t realize it. That’s one of the issues that the people don’t realize what they are doing. All of the sea creatures about 100,000 marine animals and countless fish are being harmed by the floating plastics. Those animals die in the North Pacific every year from either eating the plastic junk or becoming ensnared, and even drowning in it. Since there is plastic in the ocean and it’s killing fish over time and from the over time it could actually make the fishes go extinct because we are throwing our garbage in the ocean, which is killing the species and affects the food chain in the ocean. Also, every people are eating plasticizing additives, drinking them, breathing them, and absorbing them through their skin every single day. Only 3 to 5 percent of plastics are recycled in any way. Which means each person tosses about 185 pounds of plastic every year. So, the plastic never really goes
This pollution problem is so ubiquitous plastic can be found throughout the marine environment from coastlines to near shore lagoons to remote ocean hotspots where plastics caught up in marine currents. And gathered up into huge garbage patches that swirl
There is a lot of trash that can get into the ocean, like glass bottles, aluminum cans, and
living in the water. Plastic is one main factor in pollution. When people don't recycle
Plastics are a product that was intended to stay on land; although they have been entering oceans at a startling rate, affecting the environment dramatically. Pol...
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. (2004, August 11). Environmental Roadmapping Initiative. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from Plastics Impacts, Risks and Regulations: http://ecm.ncms.org/ERI/new/IRRPlastics.htm
Marine debris can be defined as “any manufactured or processed solid waste material that enters the marine environment from any source” (Ten Things). Usually, we just call it litter. But, where does this litter come from? All marine debris comes from man-made waste. Most of this makes its way into our waterways from land, while 20% comes from ocean-based sources, such as fishing vessels and cargo ships (Problem). Once this waste enters the ocean it moves from currents and wind. It does not stay put, and it is usually carried far from its origin, which makes it difficult to determine where this waste comes from. Not only is it difficult to locate because of relocation, but this debris comes in many different forms, ranging from small plastic cigarette buds to 4,000-pound fishing nets (Ten Things). Plastic, rubber, Styrofoam, glass, metal, rope; the list is innumerable. The most known of all these, is plastic. “Plastic marine debris affects at least 267 species worldwide; 86 percent of all sea turtles, 44 percent of all sea bird species, and 43 percent of marine mammal species” (Problem). Other than plastic, these are just a few things that marine animals might mistake as food and ingest. On top of that, we can accidentally eat marine animals that have ingested this waste, causing us to get sick. Marine animals might even become entangled and can lead to suffocation, starvation, drowning, increased vulnerability to predators, or other injuries (Impacts).
Every year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic waste enters our environment, severely polluting oceans, beaches, forests, and even the towns and cities we live in. In the ocean alone, it is believed that 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic pollutes the waters (“Plastic Statistics”, Ocean Crusaders).The majority of plastic pollution can be traced back to single-use items, such as grocery bags, bottles, and plastic packaging. According to United Nations Environment, “At the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish…” (“UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic”, UN Environment). This pollution is a major problem and endangers not only the environment, but human
The ocean is an abundant source of life. It is home to thousand of different creatures, provides a great source of food, and provides the earth with about one half of the oxygen needed to sustain life. (National Geographic) Pollution especially plastic, is a catastrophic problem. Ironically plastic, which is a material designed to last forever is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides either way it finds its way to the ocean.(Biomass Packaging Co., et al)
In addition, the plastics have shown to generate more damage to the environment in the long-term than any other sources of energy. So, it becomes our responsibility to preserve the environment creating mass awareness. The practice of bio-plastics are an environment friendly method, which doesn’t use the landfills while recycling and deposition, but it is also not that convenient method because the cost of manufacturing bio-plastics are much higher than ordinary method. This directly indicates that the cost of minimizing the waste, the cost of human health and environmental pollution is much higher than the production of
M., Gutierrez…). This is something that the Marine Debris Program is looking to eliminate. By removing the plastic from the water, and preventing it from leaking its chemicals, the eating of the plastic in general, and the prospect of these plastics being breeding grounds for dangerous pathogens, the marine environment would be safer for animals and humans alike. So, it is clear, the removal of this harmful debris, specifically plastic is something that must be done through this Citizen Science
Around eight million of plastic ends up in oceans from land each year. A water bottle that ends up in the ocean, takes about 450 years to decompose. The tons of plastic that end up in the ocean, stay there for a long time. Marine scientists have discovered, plastic is killing coral reefs. Scientists have studied 159 coral reefs for 4 years in 4 countries, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Myanmar. The study shows that the coral reefs are excessively contaminated with plastic. When plastic clings to coral it sickens or kills it. When coral comes in contact with plastic the likelihood of disease increases from 4% to 89%. Plastic tears open the skin of corals, allowing an infection to start anywhere.
... converting plastic waste into useful products are being affected by pollution; this contamination is found within containers where plastics are collected. But the same risk of pollution carries downside consequences in which workers and people responsible for cleaning and disinfecting the plastic materials are not doing the best to eliminate plastic waste, and to disinfect the infected bacteria and microorganisms from the atmosphere and environment. Organizations from China and India are the largest in the world, they collect and purchase used plastic from United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America (Minguez 2013). These companies do not bother to sanitize the products before the recycling process; for this reason the planet earth is getting a worse environmental condition, and it is destroying lives of living beings, and natural resources as well (Uddin 2014).
Research from the University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that species in the ocean consume a projected 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic every year in the Pacific Ocean (Nall, 2014). Pollution of recyclable materials in the oceans is one of the leading causes of why some marine species are nearing extinction. Many authors of articles and books analyzing this topic tend to agree that pollution of our oceans is a problem. The future of this problem is where their ideas tend to differ. The following four literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support my belief that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there are things that we as humans can do to change this. Imagine a world where we didn’t have to constantly worry about the vicious cycle of humans affecting animals and then animals in turn affecting us through consumption.