Study Finds Rising Levels of Plastics in Oceans - NYTimes.

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ENVIRONMENT

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

FEB. 12, 2015

Indian fishermen pushed their boat through plastic waste last month in Mumbai.
Punit Paranjpe/Agence France-Presse Getty Images

Some eight million metric tons of plastic waste makes its way into the
worlds oceans each year, and the amount of the debris is likely to
increase greatly over the next decade unless nations take strong
measures to dispose of their trash responsibly, new research suggests.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/science/earth/plastic-ocean-waste-levels-going-up-study-says.html?_r=2[17/04/2015 08:42:39 a.m.]

Study Finds Rising Levels of Plastics in Oceans - NYTimes.com

The report, which appeared in the journal Science on Thursday, is the

most ambitious effort yet to estimate how much plastic debris ends up
in the sea.
Jenna Jambeck, an assistant professor of environmental engineering at
the University of Georgia and lead author of the study, said the amount
of plastic that entered the oceans in the year measured, 2010, might be
as little as 4.8 million metric tons or as much as 12.7 million.
The papers middle figure of eight million, she said, is the equivalent of
five plastic grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in
the world a visualization that, she said, sort of blew my mind.
By 2025, she said, the amount of
plastic projected to be entering the
oceans would constitute the
equivalent of 10 bags per foot of
coastline.

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estimates through a complex
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calculation that began with the
overall mass of waste produced per
person annually in 192 nations that
have coastlines, worked through
the proportion of that waste likely to be plastic, and how much of the
plastic could end up in the ocean because of each nations waste
management practices. The researchers then projected the amount of
waste going forward based on population growth estimates.
This is a significant study, said Nancy Wallace, director of the marine
debris program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, who saw the paper before it was published.
Ms. Wallace applauded what she considered the sophisticated use of
available data to estimate the amount of plastic entering the marine
environment, both collectively and country by country. Of course we
know these arent absolute numbers, but it gives us an idea of the
magnitude, and where we might need to focus our efforts to affect the
issue, she said.
The research also lists the worlds 20 worst plastic polluters, from
China to the United States, based on such factors as size of coastal
population and national plastic production.
According to the estimate, China tops the list, producing as much as

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/science/earth/plastic-ocean-waste-levels-going-up-study-says.html?_r=2[17/04/2015 08:42:39 a.m.]

Study Finds Rising Levels of Plastics in Oceans - NYTimes.com

3.5 million metric tons of marine debris each year. The United States,
which generates as much as 110,000 metric tons of marine debris a
year, came in at No. 20.
While Americans generate 2.6 kilograms of waste per person per day,
or 5.7 pounds, to Chinas 1.10 kilograms, the United States ranked
lower on the list because of its more efficient waste management,
Professor Jambeck said.
Plastics have been spotted in the oceans since the 1970s. In the
intervening decades, masses of junk have been observed floating where
ocean currents come together, and debris can be found on the remotest
beaches and in arctic sea ice.
The problem is more than an aesthetic one: Exposed to saltwater and
sun, and the jostling of the surf, the debris shreds into tiny pieces that
become coated with toxic substances like PCBs and other pollutants.
Research into the marine food chain suggests that fish and other
organisms consume the bite-size particles and may reabsorb the toxic
substances. Those fish are eaten by other fish, and by people.
Cleaning up the plastic once it is in the oceans is impractical; only a
portion of it floats, while most disappears, and presumably what does
not wash ashore settles to the bottom.
Any collection system fine enough to capture the smaller particles
would also pick up enormous amounts of marine life. So the best
option, Professor Jambeck and others suggest, is to improve waste
management ashore.
But prodding developing countries to spend money on waste
management is difficult, she acknowledged. Youve got critical
infrastructure needs first, like clean drinking water, she said. Its kind
of easy to push waste to the side.
Over the years she has pursued this line of research, Professor Jambeck
said, she has seen a strong, even visceral response from the public.
You can see waste, she said. Not that people want to.

A version of this article appears in print on February 13, 2015, on page A4 of the New York edition
with the headline: Study Finds Rising Levels of Plastics in Oceans.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/science/earth/plastic-ocean-waste-levels-going-up-study-says.html?_r=2[17/04/2015 08:42:39 a.m.]