The amount of plastic waste in the world's oceans is less than previously estimated
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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It is believed that the ocean has a fairly large amount of plastic debris. In one of the universities, scientists conducted a study and determined that the amount of debris in the ocean is less than previously thought.
Environmentalists from around the world are concerned about the problem of pollution of the world's oceans with plastic waste. The new study was based on the results of a multi-day expedition of one scientific vessel, at which a group of ecologists, using a special network, cleared 141 the area contaminated with plastic debris. As it turned out, the amount of floating plastic debris in the world's oceans is about 35 thousand tons.
As the author of the new research project Andres Kozar of the Spanish University noted, this amount of garbage is much less than expected. Still. Before that, experts believed that about 1 million tons of plastic debris floating in the ocean (such data were obtained with the help of approximate mathematical calculations). A recent method for estimating the amount of debris in the ocean affects only surface floating debris, without taking into account debris in the water column or falling to the bottom. The garbage collected by the network included, for the most part, small waste (less than 5 mm). Some of them, in particular microspheres and granules used in cosmetics and in the industry in the manufacture of plastic and plastic products, were very small. In addition, small plastic debris is formed by the erosion of large parts (bags, bottles, etc.). A group of ecologists with the help of a special network collected less small plastic debris than expected and the researchers intend to find out the reason for this. It is assumed that tiny garbage was eaten by fish or other animals, and this is likely to bring irreparable harm to their health.
Plastic debris is distributed throughout all the oceans of our land, but scientists say that there are five areas in which the amount of debris is maximum - from north to south America, between Africa and America, in the east and west of Africa.
The main source of pollution by plastic debris of the world's ocean waters, according to scientists, are storm drains. Such conclusions were made by the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.
The ocean pollution expert Kara Lavender Lowe from Massachusetts, who did not take part in the study, noted that the scientific work done was the first to help assess the floating plastic debris on such a scale. Earlier estimates were based on approximate data. As noted by Kara Lowe, a man throws a huge amount of synthetic waste into the environment, which leads to a fundamental change in the composition of the ocean. According to experts, the consequences of the spread of plastic waste for fish, animals, birds are difficult to assess, since many things are not clear to scientists (how often fish and animals eat plastic and what harm it does to them).