The Ecology Book

284

OUR OCEANS ARE

TURNING INTO A

PLASTIC SOUP

A PLASTIC WASTELAND

W

hen plastics were first

mass produced in the

early 20th century, the

world marveled at the versatility and

durability of a material that could be

molded into any shape, used, and

then thrown away. The problem with

plastic, however, is that most of

it never goes away. According to

the British business publication

The Economist, only 20 percent

of the 6.3 billion tons of plastic

produced in the world since the

1950s has been burned or recycled.

This means that 80 percent—

5 billion tons—is in landfills or

elsewhere in the environment.

Polluting the oceans

Microplastics—tiny fragments of

plastic less than^1 ⁄ 4 inch (5 mm)

across—are even harder to clean

up than other plastics. Comprising

90 percent of the plastics in the

oceans, they surge through currents

like a murky soup. The problem

was first identified in 1997 by the

American oceanographer Captain

Charles Moore, who highlighted it in

his 2011 book Plastic Ocean. Sailing

home from a yachting competition,

Moore came across a vast patch of

plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean.

Now known to have a bigger surface

area than France, Germany, and

Spain combined, the Great Pacific

Ocean Garbage Patch (GPOGP)

comprises 79,000 tons of

microplastics amassed by the

swirling current known as the

North Pacific Gyre.

The GPOGP is one of several

oceanic garbage patches—there

are others in the Atlantic and

IN CONTEXT

KEY FIGURE

Charles J. Moore (1947–)

BEFORE

1970s Scientists begin to

research plastic litter at sea

after reports in the journal

Science describe large

numbers of plastic pellets

in the North Atlantic.

1984 The first International

Marine Debris Conference,

held in Hawaii, raises

awareness of the growing

problem of litter in the oceans.

AFTER

2016 The documentary A

Plastic Ocean, directed by

Australian journalist Craig

Leeson, highlights the global

effects of plastic pollution.

2018 The Earth Day Network,

an organization committed to

spreading the environmental

movement worldwide, makes

End Plastic Pollution the theme

of Earth Day, on April 22, 2018.

A “seabin” is emptied in Sydney

harbor. The Seabin Project, introduced

in Australia in 2015, helps counteract

plastic pollution by filtering surface

water in ports and harbors.

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