Plastic “continents”: is there a way out?

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://en.ird.fr/the-media-centre/scientific-newssheets/495-plastic-continents-is-there-a-way-out

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Plastic “continents”: is there a way out?[/font]

May 2016
Scientific newssheets

[font size=4]Plastic “continents ”are not static. Based on the oceanic circulation modelling work conducted in the Pacific, the IRD and CNRS researchers have recently shown that there are exit currents for these areas of the sea where these piles of waste build up. This means that they are not caught in a never-ending whirlpool in the middle of the ocean, as had been previously thought.

Although inappropriate given the actual estimated concentrations, this term highlights the awareness of the impact of human activity on the oceans.[/font]

[font size=3]…

In the Pacific, the waste may not necessarily be trapped in the centre of the oceanic gyre and may be removed in the direction of the American coasts. Furthermore, these results are backed up by the work of the IRD’s Chilean partners. They have observed an increase in the amount of waste collected on their coastlines.

More detailed observations, modelling and analyses are required to gain a better understanding of the ocean surface currents that regulate the slow routing of plastic waste on the surface of the seas and, in the medium-term, implement strategies for collecting and recycling all of this waste.[/font][/font]

[WhiteTara]

1. Another job of the future

cleaning the oceans.

[6chars]

2. how do you feel about bioengineering?

bacteria that feed on plastic would do very well...

[WhiteTara]

4. Exactly.

We just need to direct our resources for healing our planet instead of trying to destroy everything one piece at a time.

[NickB79]

6. If you're OK with the plastics in your home and car being eaten, sure

Not sure I'd be happy if I were to read about an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant, plastic-eating bacteria at the hospital (where everything sterile is in plastic these days) though.....

[6chars]

8. bioengineer it to not do that.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic…

However, this one does seem a bit far fetched. After all, the plastic debris floating in the ocean is made up of the very same plastic we like to use for things. (That’s how it got in the ocean in the first place.)

http://www.plasticdebris.org/

…

Nearly 80% of marine debris comes from land-based sources. Most of the land-based debris is conveyed to oceans via urban runoff through storm drains. The main sources of plastic and other types of anthropogenic (human-made) debris in urban runoff include: litter (mostly bags, packaging and single-use disposable products), industrial discharges, garbage transportation, landfills, construction debris, and debris from commercial establishments and public venues.

…

[msongs]

3. the sheer volume of this stuff displaces water, causing a rise in sea level to some degree nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Perhaps “to some degree” but I believe it is negligable

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea[/font]
…
Published: December 10, 2014
…[/font]

OK, so we’re displacing 250,000 tons of sea-water.

By way of comparison, between 2011 and 2014, “Greenland mass loss averaged 269?±?51?Gt/yr.” (i.e. in one year, ice melt from Greenland represents about 1 Million times more volume.)

[NNadir]

7. The fate of plastic in the gyre is not understood at all. It is clear that some of it is being...

...micronized.

A recent paper in my favorite journal was rather disconcerting, noting that these microplastics may well be effecting changes to the billion year old material flows in the ocean, adding increased buoyancy to zooplankton fecal matter.

Microplastics Alter the Properties and Sinking Rates of Zooplankton Faecal Pellets

(Matthew Cole*†‡, Penelope K. Lindeque‡, Elaine Fileman‡, James Clark†‡, Ceri Lewis†, Claudia Halsband§, and Tamara S. Galloway†

† College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QD, United Kingdom
‡ Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth PL1 3DH, United Kingdom
§ Akvaplan-niva AS, FRAM—High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment, N-9296 Tromsø, Norway

Environ. Sci. Technol., 2016, 50 (6), pp 3239–3246)

This is rather disturbing on a very deep level. No pun intended.

Some text from the introductory sections of the paper:

Marine plastic debris stems from both terrestrial and maritime sources, ⁸ and owing to its environmental persistence and buoyancy can be transported vast distances upon oceanic currents, affecting remote ecosystems including Arctic waters, deep-sea habitats, and midoceanic gyres. ^9?12 Recently Eriksenet al. estimated there are over 5 trillion microplastics floating in the ocean.² In the North Pacific subtropical gyre the mass of neustonic plastic can exceed that of plankton 6-fold^,13 and in Geoje Bay (Korea) waterborne concentrations of plastic can reach over 15,500 particles m^{?3 14}.

A photograph from the paper is available by calling up the abstract for those without access to the full text:



In some sense, plastics are sequestered carbon, but definitely sequestration of the wrong kind.

Like dangerous fossil fuel waste, microplastics are apparently distributed at problematic concentrations in nearly every living thing on the planet.