The issue of plastics in oceans is one that until recent decades was overlooked and ignored, since the 1950s the production of plastic has surpassed that of almost every material according to a 2018 UN Environment Report. It is inferred that of the nine billion tons of plastic ever produced only nine percent have ever been recycled, while the rest remain in the environment, dumps, and landfills waiting thousands of years to be broken down into smaller pieces known as microplastics and contaminating nearby soil and water in the process (Giacovelli, 2018). Many tons of accumulated plastic have taken a toll on the oceanic environment and its populations, however, it wasn’t until the 1970s that attention was drawn to this issue and a call for action was made (Moore, 2015). People hadn’t realized that from the moment plastic objects were being manufactured to the moment the consumer disposed of them they became an imminent threat to living organisms. With a myriad types of plastics produced there are also different levels of toxicity. Most of the plastics produced are used only once then disposed of afterwards, plastic bottles and caps, food wrappers, and plastic grocery bags are among those found in oceans along with other plastics disposed of carelessly. Today an ongoing discussion continues about what steps each country should take to limit the amount of plastic and waste they produce.

Before plastics are manufactured into a specific product they begin as pre-production plastic pellets that await to be molded. Companies are constantly transporting there pellets either for production or storage on boats, ferries, or railroads internationally. However, accidents that occur during shipping cause massive “pellet spills”, most of which end up in coastal areas, and beaches. Until very recently companies that owned the pellets weren’t made responsible for the cleanup, and this contributed to a massive dispersion of these pellets as time went by, increasing perimeters, and making any possible future cleanup even harder (Karlsson, Arneborg, Brostrom, Almroth, Gipperth, Hassellov, 2018). Government inaction further contributed to making the situation worse. To this day there are still millions of unaccounted pellets floating in oceans and contributing to the rest of the waste produced by consumers. The fact that there are no public records available of the the amount and type of pellets makes it hard to quantify the seriousness of the situation.
In the article “Environmental and health hazard ranking and assessment of plastic polymers based on chemical compositions,” it was found that out of the 37 plastic used in production and manufacturing of goods “sixteen plastic polymers made of monomers were classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction”. Among one of the most dangerous plastics was ‘polyurethane flexible foam’ a plastic used to add durability to furniture, several forms of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) a type of thermoplastic used for construction. The polymers that were found to be the least hazardous were polypropylene (used for bottle caps, and tupperware), and polyethylenes (found in paints and glues). Despite this, all of these plastics are derived from petroleum, meaning they will contribute to global warming regardless of whether they are also hazardous (Lithner, Larsson, Dave, 2011). These findings are correlated to another research that showed zooplankton exposed to polystyrene (or styrofoam) had a decrease in reproductive output, energy intake, and survival (Cole, Lindeque, Fileman, Halsband, Galloway, 2015). This connection makes the situation more alarming, considering the fact that polystyrene would be considered “medium high” on the scale of toxicity, so the effects of a more hazardous plastic would be even more dramatic to an organism having contact with it. Despite the hazards behind plastics and the effects they can have on human health their production only appears to be increasing “PVC, is by far the most used one, being the third largest plastic type with a global annual production of 37 million tonnes (Lithner 2011).”

Plastics themselves don’t pose a risk when they’re being used by consumers, it comes when they’re improperly disposed and they end up in landfills or oceans breaking down into dangerous microplastics after just one use. To sum up, these objects aren’t energy viable, as so much labor is used and waste produced for something that barely lasts. Such is the case of aluminum and polypropylene containers in fast food establishments, when compared to Expanded Polystyrene, it is shown that the last type of container has more energy that can be recycled and so it produces less waste. Other products like plastic bags seem efficient to manufacturers and consumers alike, because they are cheaper to make, cost almost nothing in most places, and are durable enough to carry heavy products many times their own weight, however, it’s these same characteristics that make them hard to break down, difficult to recycle, and and easy to move about in the oceans and through the wind (Giacovelli, 2018).

The issue of plastics is clear, despite plastics being almost a basic part of everyday life they shouldn’t be used only one time, and they should be manufactured, transported and consumed responsibly, failure to do so will only exacerbate the current situation we find ourselves in, and will continue to create damages to problems we’ve yet managed to solve. More recently there’s been many governments who have outlawed conventional plastic bags allowing for only the use of biodegradable ones. Plastic polymers made from renewable resources like corn, starch, potatoes, or cellulose from cotton or wood are small but steadily growing (Lithner, 2011). Another major proposition has been the start of a circular economy, referring to businesses, consumers, along with government leadership work together. In this model producers take a more active and selective role in the way they obtain and use their resources, as well as more control over the way their products are disposed, and consumers become more knowledgeable about what they purchase and the cost that went into the item, and are able to reuse and refurbish their products more(Giacovelli, 2018) instead of disposing them immediately at the first sign of a malfunction. Meanwhile the government makes sure to establish sustainability regulations and makes sure they’re being followed through, as well as making sure there’s social awareness and education about this topic. This can be achieved by continuous support for campaigning and economic incentives from which the people can benefit.

Several countries in Africa have begun similar initiatives, where large companies have partnered with government agencies to create this sort of circular government. In these programs residents separate their waste and then take it to plastic processing facilities, and in exchange they receive money, household items or food (Jambeck, J., Hardesty, B. D., Brooks, A. L., Friend, T., Teleki, K., Fabres, J, 2018). Once the issue of plastic waste production is addressed, the issue of current microplastic pollution can be addressed. In a recent research it has been found that with the usage of a sediment microplastic isolation device, filled with a medium like zinc-chloride can help with the removal on a small scale with the removal of microplastics in benthic areas. This findings are more than promising as they proved to have an efficiency of 95.8% (Coppock, Cole, Lindeque, Queiros, Galloway, 2017) at removing the plastics from the water tested. If this were to be done on a large scale it would require much consideration for the organisms living there, but already it is a step in the right direction and towards a possibility of removing large amounts of plastics where they abound.

To conclude, it is clear the issue of plastic pollution is one that has been building up for decades, and it would be naive to say that they issue will be solved immediately once the right measures are taken, but the more that the problem is prolonged then the harder it will be to solve it. This issue only gets worse as time not only for natural ecosystems but for the organisms that depend on them and eventually a more direct impact on human lives as well. There are a myriad of possible solutions some of which are presented here, but if any significant change is to be done it will require cooperation between all the stakeholders.

Works Cited Page

Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Fileman, E., Halsband, C., & Galloway, T. S. (2015). The Impact of Polystyrene Microplastics on Feeding, Function and Fecundity in the Marine Copepod Calanus helgolandicus. Environmental Science and Technology,49, 1130-1137. doi:10.1021/es504525u

Coppock, R. L., Cole, M., Lindeque, P. K., Keiros, A. M., & Galloway, T. S. (2017). A small-scale, portable method for extracting microplastics from marine sediments.Environmental

Pollution,230, 829-837. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.07.017

Giacovelli, C. (2018).SINGLE-USE PLASTICS A Roadmap for Sustainability. Norway: United Nations Environment Programme.

Jambeck, J., Hardesty, B. D., Brooks, A. L., Friend, T., Teleki, K., Fabres, J., . . . Wilcox, C. (2018). Challenges and emerging solutions to the land-based plastic waste issue in Africa.Marine Policy,96, 256-263. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.10.041

Karlsson, T. M., Arneborg, L., Brostrom, G., Almroth, B. C., Gipperth, L., & Hassellov, M. (2018). The unaccountability case of plastic pellet pollution.Marine Pollution Bulletin,129(1), 52-60. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.01.041

Moore, C. J. (2015). How much plastic is in the ocean? You tell me!Marine Pollution Bulletin,92(1-2), 1-3. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.11.042Schmid, A. G., Mendoza, J. F., & Azapagic, A. (2019). Environmental impacts of takeaway food containers.Journal of Cleaner Production,211, 417-427. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.220