Microplastics in the Ocean are More Abundant than Previously Thought
A new study from the Plymouth Marine Institute in the U.K. has found that the amount of microplastics in our oceans is much higher than previously thought. Scientists trawled off the coast of Maine in the U.S. and the coast of Plymouth in the U.K. and used mesh nets in sizes of 100 microns (0.1mm), 333 microns and 500 microns. Scientists found 2.5 times more particles in the smallest 100-micron net than in the 333-micron nets usually used in microplastic studies. Both U.S. and U.K. coasts had similar results, which suggests that other, populated coasts would have similar results.
The estimate of marine microplastic concentration could currently be vastly underestimated…Using an extrapolation, we suggest microplastic concentrations could exceed 3,700 particles per cubic meter – that’s far more than the number of zooplankton you would find…”
The majority of microplastics found in this study were textiles fibers from ropes, nets, synthetic clothing, and other plastic laden fibers. It’s unclear how many microplastics are in the ocean (scientists estimated there were from 15 and 51 trillion individual pieces in the oceans in 2014), but it’s clear that we haven’t even begun to truly measure those numbers.
Microplastics are In Your Poop
According to a recent study presented at the 26th United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week, the plastics surrounding the food we eat has now made it into our gut. Researchers from the Medical University of Vienna and the Environment Agency Austria tested eight volunteers from a variety of countries, including Finland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, the U.K., and Austria. These volunteers were asked to keep a food diary for a week leading up to having a stool sample taken. Of the 8 volunteers, none of them were vegetarian, and six reported eating sea fish. After analyzing the samples they collected, researchers confirmed that every single volunteer had microplastics in their stool. Scientists identified nine different kinds of plastics, including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene-terephthalate (PET), and others. Dr. Philipp Schwabl is the lead researcher who presented the findings at the 26th UEG Week.
This is the first study of its kind and confirms what we have long suspected, that plastics ultimately reach the human gut. Of particular concern is what this means to us, and especially patients with gastrointestinal diseases. While the highest plastic concentrations in animal studies have been found in the gut, the smallest microplastic particles are capable of entering the blood stream, lymphatic system and may even reach the liver. Now that we have first evidence for microplastics inside humans, we need further research to understand what this means for human health.”
The researchers of this study chose to focus on food packaging. Plastic food packaging is everywhere. In 2013, the plastic industry produced 78 million metric tons of packaging and only 28 percent of that was recycled. The amount of non-bottle plastic packaging containers (dairy tubs, deli containers, lids, etc.) recycled in the U.S. reached nearly 1.3 billion pounds in 2015. If that number is 28 percent of all of the non-bottle plastic in the U.S., the total amount of plastics directly touching deli meats, dips, spreads, sandwiches, and other popular foodstuffs is roughly 4.6 billion pounds. How do you avoid that?
It’s possible to limit your exposure to plastics through the food you eat. Shopping at the farmer’s market, bringing your own packaging to stores, and choosing items packaged in paper or glass are all potential options. That’s not the only way a person is exposed to microplastics, though. Water is another avenue of exposure. An analysis of popular bottled water brands found that 90 percent of them contained microplastics. The actual water bottle could be the source of those pieces, but a study of the water in major metropolitan areas found that 83 percent of samples contained plastic microfibers.
Microplastics enter our environment through a myriad of ways, like cosmetics, manufacturing processes, fishing gear, and packaging. Once microplastics are in the water, they are impossible for fish and other marine life (including coral) to avoid and can sometimes even get stuck in gills. These plastics are more than an irritant. They also contain BPA and other similar substances and can disrupt the endocrine system and cause serious health concerns.
We’ve known about plastics pollution in the oceans since the 1960s and 70s. Our use of it has increased dramatically since then. Four years ago, it was estimated there were between 15 and 50 trillion pieces of plastics in the oceans, and scientists have been discovering significant amounts of plastic in whales, birds, and fish. This study is confirmation that we are no different.
Microplastics In Tap Water and Beer Around the Great Lakes, and Everywhere Else
A new study sampled twelve different beers in the Great Lakes area and found all to be contaminated with microplastics. Researchers also surveyed tap water from the same region and found microplastics in eight of the nine samples as well.
The study was published in the online journal PLOS ONE last month. Most microplastics discovered were 5 millimeters in length or shorter, according to the researchers. For reference, a penny is 19 millimeters in diameter.
The study was led by UMN School of Public Health graduate student Mary Kosuth. Sherri Mason, of the State University of New York at Fredonia, is a revered expert in microplastics contamination. She assisted with the study. UMN School of Public Health associate professor Betsy Wattenberg oversaw the study.
Wattenberg found it interesting that the amount of plastic in the beer samples did not coincide with the amount of plastic found in the tap water used to make the beer.
The amount of microplastics detected in the beer didn’t necessarily match the amount of microplastics detected in the water that was used to make the beer. And that sort of suggests that the plastics can be introduced at different steps in the process of making the beer.” – Wattenberg
The same team also collected 159 tap water samples from 14 countries and discovered that 81% of the samples tested also had microplastic contamination.
I think what was surprising was the widespread contamination, that the contamination was detected in tap water throughout the world in many sources of tap water from both urban sources and rural sources, in both developing countries and developed countries,” – Betsy Wattenberg told Wisconsin Public Radio.
There was also a German beer study from 2014 that found microplastics in all 24 brands of beer analyzed.
Dead Sperm Whale Had 64 pounds of Plastic and Other Trash In Stomach & Intestines
A 33-foot sperm whale carcass surfaced near a lighthouse in Cabo de Palos on Spain’s southeastern coast in February. Washington Post reported that a necropsy revealed the whale had “trash bags, polypropylene sacks, ropes, net segments and a drum, among other things,” located in the stomach and intestines.
Local authorities report that the whale animal died due to peritonitis, inflammation of the abdominal lining, due to blockage from the trash.
The picture, shared by a local environmental group, shows a severely underweight sperm whale. Reports place the animal’s weight at 14,300 pounds. Adult sperm whales are supposed to weight between 77,000 and 130,000 lbs.
Sperm whales reside in the ocean at around 2,000 feet below sea level and feed off of large squid, sharks, and fish. This certainly isn’t the first time. For decades, whales and other marine life have been washing ashore full of plastic.
The presence of plastic in the ocean and oceans is one of the greatest threats to the conservation of wildlife throughout the world, as many animals are trapped in the trash or ingest large quantities of plastics that end up causing their death.” – Consuelo Rosauro, Murcia’s general director of environment
More than 30 sperm whales were found washed up on the beaches of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Denmark and Germany in 2016 according to National Geographic. Plastic waste, including fishing nets, pieces of a plastic bucket, and a plastic car engine cover were among the remains, found inside the whales’ stomachs.
A 2014 study states that there were 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. A study published last year found that 83 percent of samples of ocean water from more than a dozen nations were contaminated with plastic fibers. If that wasn’t scary enough, the amount of plastic in world’s oceans is expected to triple within a decade according to a new UK government report called the “Foresight Future of the Sea.”
How Microplastics Enter the Food Chain Through Organic Fertilizers
Much of the discussion surrounding microplastics in the environment have focused on our oceans, but a new report from Germany confirms that these tiny bits of plastic are also entering the food chain through organic fertilizers. Reducing and reusing waste are key elements of a healthy ecosystem, but proper pretreatment of waste destined for organic fertilizer is essential to avoid contributing microplastics to the soil. Professor Ruth Freitag from the University of Bayreuth in Germany, one of the study’s authors, identifies that pretreatment as a key to minimizing the impact of plastics on the soil.
We have plants where they use a lot of precautions and there we find hardly any plastic particles, and other plants where they simply use a shredder to prepare everything and break it down – there you find a lot…One example is people use plastic bags and then put everything together in the bin, and then this is entering the waste treatment plant and ending up in the fertilisers…”
Germany’s Recycling Efforts
Germany leads the world in recycling, with 65% percent of the population using the country’s color-coded bins. Almost 12 million tons of food and garden waste are composted or turned into bio-gas yearly. The researchers examined fertilizer samples from different types of waste treatment plants, finding samples from those plants converting biowaste contained plastic particles of varying sizes and concentrations. On the other hand, agricultural energy crop digesters tested for comparison only had isolated particles, suggesting that plastics are entering fertilizers through improperly sorted compost waste. Samples tested had low levels of plastic, with a maximum of around 150 microplastic particles per kilogram found.
There are six different bins to divide your recycling into in Germany. 317.7 million metric tons of waste were recycled in 2015. They are the worldwide leaders in refining personal recycling systems. Now they’re finding microplastics in organic fertilizers, a scary proposition.
We know that plastics like BPA and BPS disrupt the endocrine system and cause other health issues, but we still don’t know how they affect our health. We likely won’t have the full picture until well after it’s too late. Plastic is in our drinking water, the fish eat, and the soil we grow our food in. How soon will we be talking about how much plastic people can safely ingest before something serious occurs?
Great Pacific Garbage Patch Now Twice the Size of Texas
According to a new study, there are more than 79,000 tonnes of ocean plastic and other trash (mostly plastic) all within a 1.6 million square kilometer area of the North Pacific Ocean (600,000 square miles). That’s 16 times larger than previous estimates. That’s twice the size of Texas.
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” is a collection of garbage located halfway between Hawaii and California. Winds and ocean currents form gyres, think of water spiraling down the drain in a vortex. These gyres draw in litter from around the world. Garbage gets trapped in the gyres and eventually large pieces break down into smaller pieces, which are ingested by marine life. The patch is growing at an alarming rate. The patch is not a solid mass of plastic. It’s not like the news pictures indicate. Some of the trash is easily visible to the naked eye, but the microplastics make up the bulk of the patch. Satellite imagery doesn’t show a giant mountain of garbage. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch looks like a cloudy soup intermixed with larger items, like jugs, fishing gear, and shoes, etc.
Much of the garbage is rather large. “We were surprised by the amount of large plastic objects we encountered,” said Julia Reisser, from the Ocean Cleanup Foundation. “We used to think most of the debris consists of small fragments, but this new analysis shines a new light on the scope of the debris.”
A sample that was collected during a 2015 expedition showed the majority of the garbage is microplastics less than 0.5 cm in diameter. The Ocean Cleanup Foundation launched the expedition to look at the eastern part of the patch. They used 30 vessels and a C-130 Hercules airplane to acquire and catalog more than one million pieces of plastic.
The new study suggests the total amount of microplastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch totals more 1.8 trillion pieces, a number that far exceeds earlier estimates.
The study was based on a three-year mapping effort conducted by an international team of scientists affiliated with the Ocean Cleanup Foundation, six universities, and an aerial sensor company. The Ocean Cleanup Foundation is a non-profit organization that spearheaded this research, which is the most complete and thorough study ever done on the garbage patch. It was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Scientific Reports.
It’s estimated that 80% of the trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is from North America and Asia. The trash from North America’s coast takes around six years to reach the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, while Japan’s garbage takes about a year.
People have been focusing on microplastics, because it’s likely to be the one to have the most adverse effects on marine life, because of ingestion. But we need to understand the full-size picture of plastics, starting from the tiniest piece to larger debris.” – Laurent Lebreton, lead author of the paper.
When you go out into the middle of the ocean, you find that there’s a lot more fishing gear than was expected.”
A lot of focus has been pushed toward land-based sources of plastic and waste and single-use plastic, and that’s fair, but it’s also good to remind us that that’s not the only source, that fishing and aquaculture and marine-based sources also contribute to the problem.”
The amount of plastic in world’s oceans is expected to triple within a decade according to a new UK government report called the “Foresight Future of the Sea.” The report found that 70% of the litter in our oceans is non-degradable plastic, and the amount of litter in our oceans is projected to increase by a factor of three between 2015 and 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-NidY_8b-0
Both the opportunities and the challenges set out in this important report are global in scale and demand our urgent attention. We must keep pushing our scientific understanding of the oceans, harness new technologies, and support commercial innovation.” –Tariq Ahmad , Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister
Plastic chokes marine wildlife and causes numerous other health issues by exposing marine life to toxic chemicals. We also eat these toxic chemicals when we eat seafood. Around 150 million tons of plastic float in our oceans and eight million more tons of plastic come into the ocean each year, according to the World Economic Forum. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by weight if we don’t change our ways soon.
The UK was one of 193 countries that signed a resolution to eliminate plastic pollution in our oceans. A month later the UK outlawed the manufacture of products containing microbeads.
