Oceans today: part water, part plastic
Increased concern hovers over the ocean plastic debris problem and the harm that it does to marine wildlife and sensitive ecosystems.
A report released on Monday by environmental organization revealed that 80% of the litter floating around on the surface of the ocean is made out of plastic.
A grimmer problem is the plastic debris that is not visible to the naked eye. Plastic decomposes into very small particles, under 5 millimeters, that can have a deadly effect on marine life. Also, it is very hard to estimate the amount of suck micro-plastic found in the ocean.
Some 10 to 20 million tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean each year, mostly due to poorly maintained landfills, among other sources.
Experts who try to raise awareness firmly warn that the problem comes not from the ocean but from the land and that is where it needs to be resolved.
By simply picking up trash off beaches or removing it from the ocean’s surface we’ll do ‘nothing to fix the problem at the source,’ said Doug Woodring, co-founder of Ocean Recovery Alliance.
‘It's not just an ocean problem, it's a business and a municipal issue.The ocean is just downstream of our activities. The real solution is upstream at the producer and user end,’ said Woodring.
A good start in this sense was banning or restricting the use of plastic bags in supermarkets in many countries. Another optimal solution is for the governments or the plastic producers to create recycling facilities.
Companies have a great opportunity to reduce their environmental print by encouraging people to recycle more and offer them incentives if they do so.
Recycling is probably the most important step we can take in avoiding the suffocation of out environment and oceans with plastic because, once recycled, plastic can be re-used to make just about anything as it is a highly pliable material.
Plastic is ‘a valuable material, pound-for-pound worth more than steel, and we're just not capitalizing on it today,’ said Woodring.
The most dramatic sight that result from ocean litter contamination is what has come to known as The Great Pacific Trash Patch, a Texas-sized gyre of debris, floating around in the central North Pacific Ocean.
