An enormous
quantity of rubbish is floating in our oceans. Nobody can tell the exact amount
and nobody can tell how much gets into the oceans every single day.
Approximately 8 millions of tons of plastic waste is dumped into the oceans
every year. In the North Pacific alone there is a "Carpet of Rubbish"
which is bigger than Central Europe.
Because the
catastrophe takes place in international waters no country feels responsible
for it.
In 2015 the
journal Science published a study which estimated that plastic debris washing into the ocean from 192
coastal countries reached somewhere between 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tons in
2010. That’s enough to cover every foot of coastline in the world. It also
reveales that "five countries are responsible for up to 60 percent of the
marine plastic entering our oceans." These countries are China, Indonesia,
the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Effects to animals
The plastic
waste in our oceans effects animals in a devastating way. One of the most
well-known problem is that animals eat the rubbish because they think it is
food. Subsequently they die with a full stomach. Seals, dolphins and turtles
are getting cought in plastic waste and die painfully because the waste winds
itself around their body. Especially the young animals don´t realise the bags
or nets around their body but when they grow up the waste pulls tighter and
tighter around their body.
Effects to humans
Not only the
nature and the animals are effected by the plastic waste pollution. At the end
of the food chain it is also us humans. The sun and the salty water corrodes
the plastic in tiny pieces which is called microplastics. These microplastics
are eaten by the ocean animals like fishes or crustaceans. It remains in their
body and by eating these animals it gets into our body. One of the subtances
which are released in these chemical processes is Bisphenol A. Bisphenol A is
suspected to be harmful to our health and genetic material.
Microplastics in cosmetics
Microbeads and
other microplastics are used in a variety of cosmetic and personal care
products such as scrubs, soaps, lotions and toothpastes. They are added to
these products for a number of purposes, such as to make the product more
abrasive or for decoration.
These
particles of plastic can enter the environment when consumers rinse them down
the drain. The plastic can then subsequently be released into rivers and the
sea with waste water outflows.
Microplastics
are likely to have environmental impacts. Studies have shown they can be
ingested by marine animals leading to physical harm and reproductive or toxic
effects.
At the moment
microbeads and other microplastics from cosmetics make up a small proportion of
marine microplastic pollution. Studies have calculated that 0.1% to 4.1% of
marine microplastic pollution in Europe was from cosmetic product sources. 4.1%
equates to between 2,400-8,600 tonnes of plastic entering the marine
environment per year. This is already a huge amount but microplastic debris in
marine environments is still growing in volume. We have to stop that by buying
no cosmetics containing microplastics.
For more informationyou can visit A Rocha International.
For more informationyou can visit A Rocha International.
How can you help?
If you are
interested in getting active against plastic waste pollution of the oceans you
can find several foundations and associations like Oceancare or Save the Ocean. They care about the ocean and they are happy about support. There are
not only international organisations but also local and regional ones. For
instance "Der Mellumrat". Since about 20 years they record every
single piece of waste which strands on the island Mellum in the North Sea. The
archive they built up this way is even used by scientists who work on ocean
pollution.
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