Is There Plastic in our Water?

Clearly, a large amount of plastics in our oceans can have dramatic impacts on our environment and food chains. Dr Jennifer Lavers, a marine scientist and expert in migratory birds finds many cases of birds who have died as a result of plastic ingestion, including a case of a 90 day old chick, who has consumed 276 (visible) pieces of plastic, which had become stuck in the body. This amount constituted 15% of body mass, which would be equivalent to an average human consuming almost 10kg of plastic in three months.

It is not just large plastics polluting the ocean that we should be wary of: Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, have recently produced experiments demonstrating how smaller plastic particles clump together with bacteria, algae and other organic particles. It is feared that the occurrence of these processes will lead to further increasing ingestion by marine life.

While we can clearly see many plastics and litter in our oceans, most plastics in the water are invisible; these plastics have fragmented over time to form tiny ‘Micro-plastics’. Micro-plastics have been shown to be being consumed by many marine animals with the potential of dire consequences, the effects being of more importance for small creatures such as plankton, who form the base of many large food chains. Should small creatures such as these suffer, there may be large knock-on effects for many different species, including humans.