Plastics at sea: causes, consequences and solutions

We start explaining How plastic arrives in the sea. When we get rid of the plastics that we no longer use, they can follow several paths, since they can

• Be incinerated.
• Be recycled.
• Finish in a landfill or anywhere in our environment if we do not discard them correctly.

Plastics that are not recycled or incinerated, even those that are still in the yellow container, are likely to be dragged to the sea or towards the rivers that flow into it by the action of wind and rain.

In addition, we also find plastics in the sea that have their origin in garbage spills Deliberate, in accidental spills from ships or in the effluents of the purifying stations or wastewater treatment plants. While none of this would happen, or at least not on such a large scale, if we do not manufacture them in the immense amounts that we do.

As we said, more than 80% of sea garbage are plastic and these can be of several types. Thus, we have to:

• 18% correspond to non -plastic waste.
• 27% are equipment plastics used in fishing.
• 49% correspond to single -use plastics.
• The remaining 6% are other plastics.

As for the most abundant (those of a single use), recent studies claim that there are a lot of plastic on the beaches that informs us about the types of plastics of a single more common use that so much affect the contamination of the sea. From higher to lower amountthese are:

• Tapas, caps and bottles.
• Butt or cigarettes of the cigarettes.
• Cotton sticks or swabs.
• Snacks or snack packages or snacks, candy packaging and other sweets.
• Some hygiene items (tampons, wipes, etc.).
• Plastic bags
• Straws, mixers and cutlery.
• Glasses and cups.
• Balloons and sticks to hold them.
• Food containers, including those used for fast food.

These ten main products represent 86% of single -use plastics or 43% of all the sea.

How much plastic is in the sea? What amounts are we talking about? It is estimated that, every year, they end in the oceans no less than between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonshaving already accumulated in our seas more of the whopping 150 million tons.

And where can we find it? We can find the plastic in every corner of the planet, they have even found plastics at 10,000 meters deep. However, five zones have been identified where there is a great concentration: they are known by “islands” or “plastic soups. There are five plastic soups that accumulate these sea garbage in:

• The Indian Ocean: It has a plastic island.
• The Atlantic Ocean (North and South): It has a plastic island.
• In the Pacific Ocean (north and south): they are located in those places due to sea currents.

In these Plastic islandsthe most accumulated waste is microplastics, which are the product of the degradation of plastics in smaller pieces as a result of ultraviolet radiation of the sun and the strength of the waves. They can also be generated Nanoplasticeven smaller than the previous ones, carrying both serious extension problems still unknown.

Also, these microplastics are also generated when the tires are wearing and when we wash synthetic fibers. We even produce microplastics intentionally to put them in some exfoliants and soaps.

Here you can learn more about what the plastic islands are and how they form or, but, below you can see a video about these islands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oquluixec4

We are currently in the “Plastic age“, We manufacture it in huge quantities because it is amazingly useful. However, we must not forget that it is also amazingly resistant, which makes its degradation extremely difficult, leading Mother Nature from some decades to centuries to decompose and reabsorb it.

Let’s see below How plastic affects the seabecause the aforementioned is not exempt from consequences for our environment. The main consequences of plastic in the sea are:

• Tangles: Plastic waste can cause tangles in some marine animals, being able to hinder their development and even cause the animal’s death.
• Food interference: They also interfere with the nutrition of some animals that confuse plastic pieces with their usual food, sometimes managing to block their stomach and/or intestine and cause death.
• Chemical release: The long decomposition process, microplastics and nanoplastic are accompanied by the release of harmful chemicals for life in oceanic waters. This is the case of bisphenol A, which has been documented that harms the reproduction of marine species. Here we tell you how long the plastic takes to degrade.
• Harmful to the human being: For our part, even if we do not seem, we also ingest these materials (as a consequence of the existence of the food chain), despite the repercussions that this could have on our health are still unknown.
• Presence of bacteria: There are some species of bacteria that develop on plastics, which move freely and can act as dispersion vectors in ecosystems that are not adapted to them. Discover the types of bacteria that exist, here.
• Harmful to the economy: Plastics in the sea also carry negative impacts in various sectors of the economy, where tourism and fishing sectors are mainly affected.

How to avoid plastics in the sea? The solutions are to implement actions in which both producers and consumers intervene and those who manage waste and, of course, must be backed by governments.

The main solutions for plastic pollution are:

• Reduce: For example, use glass tuppers or wooden tweezers instead of using them plastic. And, above all, you have to avoid as much as possible to use single -use plastics. In this sense, the European Parliament has approved the prohibition of single -use plastics (dishes, covered, straws) from 2021.
• Create taxes: Another solution at the legislative level would be to create taxes in the case of plastics that pollute the most.
• Buy in bulk: choose to buy foods that sell in bulk, thus avoid buying plasticized foods and excess packaging (do not forget to bring your fabric bag).
• Avoid the use of cosmetics With microplastics.
• Opt for the Biodegradable clothes.
• Re-use: If you already have plastic products, try as much as possible to reuse them. The most important thing is to buy products that you know that they will have a very long useful life.
• Recycle: Leave the plastic on the right place to treat it and not end in the oceans. In addition, it must be required that more efficient recycling methods are available, since there are still some plastics that cannot be recycled. Do not hesitate to take a look at this post about why it is important to recycle in ecology.

And what do we do with the plastics that are already in the sea? Some solutions for plastics in the sea are also proposed:

• Collection of plastics in the sea With the project Ocean Cleanup: which is a mechanism that collects sea garbage with the help of adequately designed structures so as not to cause damage to fauna and flora. He does it passively taking advantage of sea currents.
• Research ship: Another project, devised by a Norwegian tycoon, is the implementation of a large ocean research vessel that will pursue, among other objectives, novel solutions for cleaning the ocean plastic.
• Use of bacteria: There is also the possibility of recycling helping us with the surprising capacity of bacteria that digest terephthalate polyethylene (PET), widely used for example in single -use plastic bottles.

Now that you have learned all this, we encourage you to learn more about the problem of plastics, not only the problems in the seas, with this other ecology article about the causes, consequences and solutions of plastic pollution. In addition, below you can see a video of our YouTube channel about this problem of plastics in the seas and oceans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmnen39jxhe

If you want to read more articles similar to Plastics at sea: causes, consequences and solutionswe recommend that you enter our pollution category.