Microplastics in MY OCEAN
What do you think of when you hear the word microplastic?
Legos? Chapstick caps? The plastic clip on BIC pencils?
In fact, microplastics are smaller—a lot smaller—and are defined as plastic objects 5mm or less.
Here is an example:
And this a microscopic image of these harmful microplastics.
Many of the polluters of the world may ask what impact that has on humans, which is increasingly becoming an issue that microplastics began to surface in the seafood we purchase and eat on a daily basis.
That being said, what would attribute to a large percentage of microplastic pollution that almost all of us unknowingly do? In the last fifty years, we've added more and more materials like acrylic, polyester and nylon to our clothing. Every single time clothes are washed, extremely small amounts of these synthetic materials (known as microfibers—imagine the lint of microscopic world) are released. Unlike the normal lint that is caught through screens, these microfibers are whisked into sewer systems, not filtered through their special screens and then out to the micro pollution party found in the ocean.
Now that saving the environment has become trendy through a plastic straw or bag ban, a bigger focus must be placed on the harmful effects of microplastics, specifically microfibers, if we are realistically going to address and reverse our impact on the environment.
For further reading and information on this important issue check out Vox's articles here and here.
Legos? Chapstick caps? The plastic clip on BIC pencils?
In fact, microplastics are smaller—a lot smaller—and are defined as plastic objects 5mm or less.
Here is an example:
Nasty, right?
Oh and just in case you thought plastic just disappeared after getting broken down after the hellish life of pollution, here is an image of zooplankton having digested microplastics.
And this a microscopic image of these harmful microplastics.
Many of the polluters of the world may ask what impact that has on humans, which is increasingly becoming an issue that microplastics began to surface in the seafood we purchase and eat on a daily basis.
That being said, what would attribute to a large percentage of microplastic pollution that almost all of us unknowingly do? In the last fifty years, we've added more and more materials like acrylic, polyester and nylon to our clothing. Every single time clothes are washed, extremely small amounts of these synthetic materials (known as microfibers—imagine the lint of microscopic world) are released. Unlike the normal lint that is caught through screens, these microfibers are whisked into sewer systems, not filtered through their special screens and then out to the micro pollution party found in the ocean.
Now that saving the environment has become trendy through a plastic straw or bag ban, a bigger focus must be placed on the harmful effects of microplastics, specifically microfibers, if we are realistically going to address and reverse our impact on the environment.
For further reading and information on this important issue check out Vox's articles here and here.
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