The first series of posts is about PLASTIC POLLUTION.
Plastic pollution is not something new to us. In fact, it has become one of the most pressing issues that we face today. Let me start off by giving a brief overview about plastic pollution.
Plastic can mainly be categorized into macroplastics and microplastics. As the names suggest, macroplastics are relatively large particles of plastic unlike microplastics. Microplastics includes tiny particles of plastic that were already produced that way, such as microbeads, and also macroplastics that have been broken down by various factors such as sunlight, wave action, etc (Parker, 2019).
Why has plastic pollution become such a persisting issue?
One of the main contributing reasons to plastic pollution is the throw-away culture that has been developed over the years due to the convenience that plastics offer (Parker, 2019). With such large amounts of plastics produced and discarded, there is an accumulation of plastics in the environment. Furthermore, plastics tend to take a very long time (and i mean like really long, like 1000 years) to degrade or some don’t at all. Even those that degrade might have just been broken down to microplastics. As Prof mentioned in lectures, additives are also often added to plastics for purposes such as to strengthen it or increase flexibility. This can also increase the lifespan of plastics if they become litter (Parker, 2019).
To end off, based on the concept of viewing pollution as a continuum mentioned in lectures, we can see that the general source of plastics is anthropogenic and it has many point and diffuse sources. Moving on, the main ways it is transported is flows from land and also water bodies such as rivers (Parker, 2019). This is how most of the plastics end up in the oceans, and are often transported around the world due to ocean currents. Of course, plastics also accumulate on land in areas such as landfills.
That’s all for today’s post. Hope you have gotten a general understanding of plastic pollution.
Want to know how it affects animals? What species of animals have been affected? Stay tuned for the next few posts, to learn more about plastic pollution and its effects on animals !!! 🙂
References
Hart, M.F., 2020. Ocean plastics, digital image, Available at: https://chinadialogueocean.net/14200-how-does-plastic-pollution-affect-the-ocean/ [Accessed August 30, 2020].
Parker, L., 2019. The world’s plastic pollution crisis explained. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/plastic-pollution/ [Accessed August 30, 2020].