Nowadays the human being uses a large amount and variety of plastics in his daily life, which turns out to be unnecessary in addition to very harmful to the environment, especially for water or sailor water ecosystems.
Most plastics are visible, but there are a large part of them that, due to their small size, go unnoticed by being part of many daily use products in our homes and with a high degree of pollution. These are microplastics, as unknown as dangerous, and in this ecology article, we explain you What are microplastics: definition and typesas well as the problems that cause the natural environment.
What are microplastics – simple definition
It’s about small synthetic particles that come from oil derivatives. They are hardly degradable and their origin is found in industrial activity and domestic consumption, being present in detergents, dentifrices, in skin products such as exfoliants and sunscreen and even in many synthetic fibers of clothing, among others. Since these products are of daily consumption and are always used in contact with water, the microplastics that contain They are poured at a constant pace in our wastewater.
The problem lies that these materials are toxic, abrasive and hardly treatable in the filtration of the treatment plants due to their small size, then The size of microplastics is less than 5 mm. Therefore, these polluting particles end up being discarded to rivers, seas and oceans causing serious damage to a large part of the natural environment.
The presence of microplastics is practically invisible to the human eye, and that is why the majority of the population does not take care of how harmful they can be for those beings that ingest them, from invertebrates to fish, birds and aquatic mammals. These waste has been accumulating in a lack of control in the environment of four decades ago, and represent more of the 50% of the millions of tons of plastic that are poured annually to the sea.
What types of microplastics are there
Because microplastics are used in a wide range of products, they have been manufactured with a wide variety of types and shapes depending on their application.
Today these synthetic compounds are classified into two categories, primary and secondary. The primary microplastics They are considered as those that, after their use, reach the natural environment in their original form, that is, in the same state in which they have synthesized. This type is mostly in the form of a granulus (microspheres) so they are used, sneak over the drain and due to their small size, they are lost between the filters and are not treated in the treatment plants. A good example would be the particles that are in exfoliating gels and toothpastes.
On the other hand, the secondary microplastics They have their origin in the degradation of other plastic products. Therefore, this means that they come from the Fragmentation of great synthetic structures or, of the release of fibers during fabric washing, clothing and carpets (microfibers).
Both categories are extremely toxic and persistent in the middle. This is mainly due to the origin of its components, mostly formed by two types of plastic. The first, polyethylene (PE), is a little degradable but very simple and economical component to synthesize, not to say that it is the plastic component that is most used worldwide, such as plastic bags, plastic bottles, some cosmetics and soaps. The second is Polypropylene (PP), normally used to make caps and synthetic fibers of clothing and other textile fabrics.
There are more derived plastics that contribute to the Microplastic pollutionsuch as polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl (PV) or nylon, which act with the same toxicity and abrasiveness about the environment as those mentioned above.
What effects have microplastics on the environment
As mentioned above, adequate management is not carried out for the treatment of microplastics in the treatment plants due to their small size. Thus, once these small particles leave the treatment plants, they spread uncontrolled by rivers, seas and oceans.
Many of the organisms that inhabit these areas or are close to them, especially fish, birds, mammals and invertebrates, are seriously affected by microplastics. In the case of small invertebrates (zooplankton, phytoplankton, etc.), they ingest microfibers and suspension microferas believing that it is food, since there are normally organic remains in suspension of those who nourish.
Thus, these beings are subsequently ingested by other fish, molluscs, birds and larger mammals, so that microplastics accumulate in their digestive systems until their organism exceeds the limit of tolerance to the toxicity of these components, so they die and little by little Biodiversity is reduced. At this point, experts are investigating with concern What effects we may have to eat microplasticswhen eating these animals.
More than forty years ago, these small plastics began to synthesize, but continue to arrive at the marine environment continuously. Some type of management should have already been applied that involves reducing this large number of components, but the world does not seem to realize the serious consequences involved in the contamination of seas and oceans, so many regulation measures are still missing.
England and the United States were the precursors in prohibit many of cosmetics, dentifrices, gels and detergents that will include microplastics in its formulas, especially in the form of a granulus. Other countries such as Canada, Sweden, France and Belgium are acting from a couple of years ago with similar prohibitions and regulations.
We, as walking citizens, can use certain measures to prevent this type of pollution. The main one is a very simple task since there are many organizations such as Greenpeace that publish annual lists on the products and companies that use these harmful components. Therefore, once we have informed what are the products that these pollutants contain, we can avoid buying them, in addition to informing those people who still do not know What are microplastics and what damage they do to the environment.
In addition, below, you can see a video of our YouTube channel about the problem that plastics suppose in the sea.
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