http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/15/ocean-plastic-land-based-sources/
[links and image in on-line article - I recommend looking at the image.]
80% of Ocean Plastic Comes From Land-Based Sources, New Report Finds
Lorraine Chow | June 15, 2016 10:01 am
Ocean plastic pollution is an increasingly devastating crisis, and this
new infographic shows exactly where the plastic trash is coming from,
where it ends up and why it’s important to start our fight against this
environmental scourge at the beach.
The graph, provided by UK-based Eunomia Research & Consulting, shows
that more than 80 percent of the annual input of plastic litter, such as
drink bottles and plastic packaging, comes from land-based sources. The
remainder comes from plastics released at sea, such as lost and
discarded fishing gear.
Significantly, Eunomia was able to come up with a new estimate of annual
global emissions of “primary” microplastics, such as microbeads, fibers
or pellets. (“Secondary” microplastics are the result of larger pieces
of plastic breaking down into smaller pieces.)
The firm calculated that emissions of microplastics range from 0.5 to
1.4 million tonnes per year, with a mid-point estimate of 0.95 million
tonnes. Vehicle tires are the biggest culprits, releasing 270 thousand
tonnes of debris into our waterways annually.
These tiny non-biodegradable pieces of plastic are a cause for worry, as
they are being gobbled up by plankton and baby fish like junk food, and
works its way up the food chain. Microplastics have been found in in ice
cores, across the seafloor, vertically throughout the ocean and on every
beach worldwide. As EcoWatch mentioned previously, microplastics are
also very absorbent, meaning they pick up the chemicals it floats in.
The firm compiled a report of their research that was released earlier
this month. The report shows an astounding 94 percent of the plastic
that enters the ocean ends up on the ocean floor, with an estimated 70
kilograms of plastic per square kilometer of sea bed on average.
The report thus highlights a common misunderstanding in which ocean
plastic is often portrayed as a Texas-sized garbage patch floating in
the middle of the ocean. According to a press release of the study:
Despite the high profile of projects intended to clean up plastics
floating in mid-ocean, relatively little actually ends up there. Barely
1% of marine plastics are found floating at or near the ocean surface,
with an average global concentration of less than 1kg/km2. This
concentration increases at certain mid-ocean locations, with the highest
concentration recorded in the North Pacific Gyre at 18kg/km2.
By contrast, the amount estimated to be on beaches globally is five
times greater, and importantly, the concentration is much higher, at
2,000kg/km2. While some may have been dropped directly, and other
plastics may have been washed up, what is clear is that there is a
“flux” of litter between beaches and the sea. By removing beach litter,
we are therefore cleaning the oceans.
Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, the highly publicized “Ocean
Cleanup Project” (OCP) comes to mind. The scheme, which is being brought
to life by its young Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, aims to clean half the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch in a decade via a static platform that
passively corrals ocean plastics with a V-shaped boom.
While Slat and 70 other scientists and engineers have composed a
530-page feasibility report on the project, critics have written off the
idea. As Dr. Marcus Eriksen, 5 Gyres co-founder and an ocean scientist
whose research was cited in the Eunomia study wrote, “There are no
islands of plastic, rather a smog of plastic that pervades the oceans.”
Eriksen suggested that Slat move the array upstream to capture trash
before it fragments.
“Many countries around the world are deploying structures of all kinds
to catch trash downstream, from nets to waterwheels, with the last stop
at river mouths,” Eriksen wrote. “OCP could contribute their engineering
expertise to the growing industry designing systems to tackle waste
upstream.”
As for how you can help, Dr. Chris Sherrington, principal consultant at
Eunomia, explained why beach cleanups are one of the best ways to fight
ocean plastic.
“When plastic does get into the sea, it’s clear that efforts to remove
it from the beaches are extremely valuable,” he said. “They’re generally
more accessible than the mid-ocean, there’s more material there overall
than there is floating, and it is much more concentrated on beaches.”
Sherrington added that policies on cutting plastic use, such as taxes on
everyday plastic items and recycling incentives, could stop the waste at
the source.
“Prevention is usually better than cure, and there’s a lot more we could
do to stop plastic from entering the marine environment in the first
place,” he said. “Preventing waste and preventing litter can go hand in
hand. The charge on single-use carrier bags is a cost-effective step in
the right direction, but we should be considering the same approach for
other commonly littered plastic items, like take-away cups and
disposable cutlery. Deposit refunds on beverage containers would help
incentivize people to return them for recycling, and reduce the amount
littered.”
Here are some other key points from the Eunomia report:
Barely 1 percent of marine plastics are found floating at or near
the ocean surface, with an average global concentration of less than
1kg/km2.
This concentration increases at certain mid-ocean locations, with
the highest concentration recorded in the North Pacific Gyre at
18kg/km2. By contrast, the amount estimated to be on beaches globally is
five times greater, and importantly, the concentration is much higher,
at 2,000kg/km2.
While some may have been dropped directly, and other plastics may
have been washed up, there is a “flux” of litter between beaches and the
sea. By removing beach litter, we are therefore cleaning the oceans.
_______________________________________________
Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list
Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org
http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel