The surge in plastic development has brought massive progress in the everyday life of man. The downside is a broader and much more difficult problem for the environment and for mankind in general. The amount of plastic waste continues to increase as does it's general use. It's light weight means plastic waste is carried by water- rain, flood and general drainage systems. With any excess water, it ends up in rivers, beaches and oceans. It is delivered by small and large ocean currents, through which ocean water circulates, i.e. "the unseen ocean world pathways. The oceans therefore, direct waste from the human world to their designated areas. | |
The larger and heavier plastic masses remain on the surface area or below. It is impacted by waves and over time, breaks down to levels which cannot be seen by the naked eye. The particles are lighter than the water itself and are deposited in layers across the ocean. They are also the same size as food for small organisms, and likely get mistaken as such. Heavy metals and persistant organic pollutants (POPs) bond to these small particles, and therefore toxify this material which is mistaken as food. It is possible that these toxins are then transferred to larger marine life in larger doses, in a process called "bio-magnification." It is unknown how this may impact humans. In all, this marine debris is impacting the largest and most remote ecosystem on the planet, in the middle of the ocean, due to years of neglect, and from simply not knowing that this "build-up" might occur. It is possible that as a result of the toxins in the water, aggregated with the debris, that some marine organisms are not thriving in a natural state, and therefore are not absorbing C02 as they used to. This impact is not yet known.
The other great marine disaster is from oil tanker spills - shipping transport, boats, etc.
