Over 5trn toxic plastic floating in world oceans - Experts

Experts have said that over 5 trillion toxic plastic garbage weighting about 269,000 tons is floating in the world’s oceans and the bits of the garbage distributed throughout the world.

According to a new report by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), plastics are a huge problem for the oceans and it is predicted to worsen, and that almost 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year, with only 5 percent of the world’s plastic currently been recycled.

The experts forecast the volume of oceanic plastic debris will only increase due to rising production of throwaway plastic and consumers’ insatiable desire for cheap and convenient plastic goods.

According to the report, researchers expected to discover a large amount of micro plastics, that is, plastics which have been broken down by the sun and waves into pieces smaller than 5 millimeters - the number of micro plastics were an order of magnitude smaller than expected.

The study confirms other researchers’ observations that there was a large discrepancy between expected and observed micro plastic weight and abundance in the world’s oceans.

The bits of plastic are said to have been eaten by fish, turtles and other animals that mistake the particles for food.

It is also noted that many of the tiny pieces have sunk below the surface of the ocean, and either float in the water column where surveys can’t reach, or have settled to the bottom where they can be ingested by snails and other bottom feeders.

“When animals consume plastic, they also consume all the toxins used to create plastic, like BPA, along with all the pollutants in the water that plastics absorb while they float in the ocean” the report state.

However studies have shown that the concentration of toxic chemicals, such as PCB and DDT, can be up to a million times greater in plastic debris than found in seawater. These chemicals are inherently toxic, and can cause serious physiological damage in animals. And since big fish eat little fish, more organisms ingest plastic particles indirectly via their prey organisms, and concentrate the chemicals up the food chain.

Larger pieces of litter, like plastic bags, pose their own problems for seals, sea turtles, birds and other animals that ingest them.