SCIENTIA.

Have you ever attended or seen a beach clean up? Most of the waste picked up can be easily seen in the form of plastic straws, single-use plastic shopping bags and candy wrappers. There have been pictures on social media with wildlife getting tangled in plastic and stomachs of turtles filling up with plastic bags, but what about the so-called “Microplastics” which also make up part of our 8 million ton plastic contribution? And why is it so important nowadays?

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To understand this problem, we need to take a step back and find out what a Microplastic actually is. Bigger bits of plastic, such as the previously mentioned straws, shopping bags and candy wrappers etc. break down into smaller bits of plastic until they become too small to be seen by the naked eye. These microplastics are able to enter our oceans more easily through drains and rivers if they are discarded improperly.  Another way microplastics are formed is when some companies produce them in cleaning products, such as toothpaste, shampoos & face scrub. Since you don’t ingest these products (I hope) these microplastic beads/microbeads enter the sewage system, which then disposes the microbeads in the ocean since the microplastics are too small to get filtered out by our water treatment systems.

When microplastics enter the ocean, they are mistaken by marine animals to be actual food. For example, little organisms called plankton may eat these microplastics. When a larger animal like Mackerels eats that plankton, the microplastics also accumulate inside the fish. This is problematic because once we’ve eaten that fish, now there will also be microplastics inside our body! 

 

In a recent study by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, it was found out that there was an average of 15 bits of microplastics in a liter of seawater. This is a serious problem faced by almost every single marine organism. Once microplastics enter the animal’s stomach, the microplastics get stuck in the animal’s stomach, making it harder for the animal to digest food. Furthermore microplastics contain harmful chemicals which are absorbed by the animal, which may be fatal for the animal, including us humans.

 

So how do we stop microplastics? 

 

One common answer is to just stop using them. In 2015, President Obama introduced a series of bans which “Prohibits the addition of plastic microbeads in the manufacturing of certain personal care products, such as toothpaste”. By passing this law, this has certainly helped in reducing the numbers of microplastics in U.S. waterways from a study by the FDA.

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Another way to help is to simply get involved. Partaking in events like local reef beach clean ups can help clear out plastic before it develops into microplastics. In Patana, the Patana Marine life Conservation Group (PMCG) take students on trips to help clear up the ocean and beach. If you are interested in helping prevent this problem from worsening, then you should consider joining the group or attending these trips. It is not necessary to be a diver to attend these trips, there are activities for snorklers where they help clear up the beaches: it is actually here where we find a lot more plastic. Meanwhile, if you are a diver, you can go diving to pick up trash and experience the excitement of diving whilst knowing you are helping out the planet. The plastic collected is then recorded and sent as research to help scientists learn more about the plastics in the oceans.

 

To conclude, recent microplastics research has sparked the interest of both the public and scientific community’s interest. With current support, we may soon have the answers on how to fight the microplastic problem.

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Bibliography 

Smith, C. (2020). What Are Microplastics And How Are They Harming Our Oceans? Plastic Pollution - Behind the News. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG4AYagBz9Q.

 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2017). The Microbead-Free Waters Act. [online] Available at: https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/microbead-free-waters-act-faqs.