Ocean microplastics could double by 2050, a scientific study warns

Thursday, 12 September 2019

The amount of broken down plastic particles in the global ocean could double by 2050, researchers warn.

Dutch and Kiwi researchers have predicted that without proper handling or removal of already accumulated plastic pollution, the world's 'microplastic' problem could double in size by the middle of the century.

'The legacy of the last 70 years of a throw-away society will live on through the generation of ever smaller synthetic polymer fragments in soils, freshwater ecosystems and eventually the ocean,' their Scientific Reports journal report says.

* We eat a 'credit card' size worth of plastic each week

* NZ lags behind on microplastic research

* Our health in a plastic-wrapped world**

A recent voyage has found the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is growing - there's more plastic than ever.

'The systematic removal of plastic waste from the natural environment should be encouraged and coordinated at a global scale.'

Microplastics are harmful to marine life, and a study released earlier this year found 73 per cent of deepwater fish in the North Atlantic Ocean had eaten the plastic particles.

They are entering the human food chain too, and experts estimate people are eating more than a credit card-sized amount of plastic each day via food and water.

A sampling of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Based on past projections of annual plastic waste there should currently be tens of millions of metric tons of plastic floating on the ocean's surface.

But the Dutch and Kiwi researchers found buoyant 'macroplastic objects' were not floating, as expected, but breaking down and sinking as they degrade over many decades.

'Subject to degradation into microplastics, the major part of the mass is predicted to have settled below the surface.'

Larval perch that has ingested microplastic particles.

It means plastic is going into our oceans much faster than nature can break it down.

The current generation of degraded microplastics was produced in the 1990s and earlier, the report said.

The authors warned the creation of microplastic particles in the ocean would not slow without plastic pollution being reduced.

If pollution was stopped from the year 2020 onwards, the floating macroplastics could decrease by 2050 to respectively 59 per cent and 57 per cent of their 2020 levels.

The research was completed by The Clean Cleanup Foundation in The Netherlands and The Modelling House Ltd in Raglan.