Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues, as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them. Plastic
pollution
is most visible in less-wealthy Asian and African nations, where garbage collection systems are often inefficient or nonexistent. But wealthy nations, especially those with low recycling rates, also have trouble properly collecting discarded plastics. Plastic trash has become so ubiquitous it has prompted efforts to write a global treaty negotiated by the United Nations.
How Did this Happen?
Plastics made from fossil fuels are just over a century old. Production and development of thousands of new plastic products accelerated after World War II to the extent that life without plastics would be unimaginable today. Plastics revolutionized medicine with life-saving devices, made space travel possible, lightened cars and jets—saving fuel and lessening
pollution
—and saved lives with helmets, incubators, and equipment for clean drinking water.
The conveniences plastics offer, however, led to a throw-away culture that reveals the material’s dark side: Today, single-use plastics account for 40 percent of the plastic produced every year. Many of these products, such as plastic bags and food wrappers, are used for mere minutes to hours, yet they may persist in the environment for hundreds of years.
Plastics by the Numbers
Some key facts:
How Plastics Move around the World
Most of the plastic trash in the oceans, Earth’s last sink, flows from land. Trash is also carried to sea bymajor rivers, which act as conveyor belts, picking up more and more trash as they move downstream. Once at sea, much of the plastic trash remains in coastal waters. But once caught up in ocean currents, it can be transported around the world.
OnHenderson Island, an uninhabited atoll in the Pitcairn Group isolated halfway between Chile and New Zealand, scientists found plastic items from Russia, the United States, Europe, South America, Japan, and China. They were carried to the South Pacific by the South Pacific gyre, a circular ocean current.
Microplastics
Once at sea, sunlight, wind, and wave action break down plastic waste into small particles, often less than half a centimer (one-fifth of an inch) across. These so-called
microplastics
are spread throughout the water column and have been found in every corner of the globe, from Mount Everest, the highest peak, to theMariana Trench, the deepest trough.
Microplastics
are breaking down further into smaller and smaller pieces. Plastic microfibers (or the even smaller nanofibers), meanwhile, have been found in municipal drinking water systems and drifting through theair.
Harm to Wildlife
Millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine organisms. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by plastics. Nearly every species of seabird eats plastics.
Most of the deaths to animals are caused by entanglement or starvation. Seals,whales, turtles, and other animals are strangled byabandoned fishing gearor discardedsix-pack rings.
Microplastics
have beenfoundin more than 100 aquatic species, including fish, shrimp, and mussels destined for our dinner plates. In many cases, these tiny bits pass through the digestive system and are expelled without consequence. But plastics have also been found to have blocked digestive tracts or pierced organs, causing death. Stomachs so packed with plastics reduce the urge to eat, causing starvation.
Plastics have been consumed by land-based animals, including elephants, hyenas, zebras, tigers, camels, cattle, and other large mammals, in some casescausing death.
Tests have also confirmed liver and cell damage and disruptions toreproductive systems,prompting some species, such asoysters,to produce fewer eggs. New research shows thatlarval fish are eating nanofibersin the first days of life, raising new questions about the effects of plastics on fish populations.
Stemming the Plastic Tide
Once in the ocean, it is difficult—if not impossible—to retrieve plastic waste. Mechanical systems, such asMr. Trash Wheel, a litter interceptor in Maryland’s Baltimore Harbor, can be effective at picking up large pieces of plastic, such as foam cups and food containers, from inland waters. But once plastics break down into
microplastics
and drift throughout the
water column
in the open ocean, they are virtually impossible to recover.
The solution is to prevent plastic waste from entering rivers and seas in the first place, many scientists and conservationists—including theNational Geographic Society—say. This could be accomplished with improved waste management systems andrecycling, better product design that takes into account the short life of disposable packaging, and reduction in manufacturing of unnecessary single-use plastics.
