Plastic waves: an ecological catastrophe of the World Ocean

Remember, in the movie "The Fifth Element" was the president of the planet Earth? Even at the first viewing of this great film, I was surprised by such a position, for it implies the fact that our entire planet is one big state. This option is extremely unlikely, because different countries, nations and social groups always have and will have differences, different views on the future and sometimes outright hostility. And under the veil of civil strife and finding out who is stronger or who, to the right, many do not notice a common problem for everyone. Whoever you are, wherever you live, the problem of ecology is always present.

The ruin is not in the closet, but in the heads. And to once again pay attention to environmental problems, scientists from the University of Tasmania have calculated the amount of plastic waste in the vicinity of remote and almost uninhabited, it is worth noting the islands. How sad is it, what is the future of these islands and their ecosystems, and how to fix it? The answers are waiting for us in the report of the research group. Go.
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Prehistory

Over the past decade, plastic production has greatly increased. About half of the plastic produced (3,900 million tons) has been produced in the last 13 years. At the same time, about 40% of this huge amount in the same year turned into garbage (disposable bags, packaging, etc.), that is, it was used and not recycled.

In 2010, scientists estimated that 12.7 million tons of plastic fell into the oceans, which equals 5.25 trillion units. And this is more than the stars in the sky, literally. According to preliminary forecasts, by 2025 the volume of plastic garbage in the waters of the oceans will increase by 10 times compared with 2010.



Such figures are not even shocking, because environmentalists from all over the world talk about this almost every day. But many see these conversations more like the buzzing of annoying flies, rather than an alarm. But you need to understand, if you keep silent about the problem, it will not become less, it will become even more.

When plastic debris is in the ocean, then under the influence of water, sunlight and waves breaks up into small parts that float there for decades. As the researchers say, the characteristics that make plastic so popular (strength, durability, lightness, low cost of production, etc.) make it a serious threat to the environment, because most of the floating debris can no longer be caught. Therefore, it is necessary to concentrate not on cleaning, no matter how strange it may sound, but on preventing the emergence of new garbage. As they say, purely not where they clean, but where they do not litter.



What is so terrible garbage in the ocean? Yes, stupid question, but still. Plastic debris adversely affects the flora and fauna of the oceans: from fish entangled in plastic bags to exposure to chemical elements present in the debris material and released during decomposition.

Scientists from the University of Tasmania decided to calculate the volume of garbage on some of the Cocos Islands.


The location of the Cocos Islands and the direction of the main ocean currents (arrows).

Cocos Islands consist of 27 islands with a total area of ​​14 km ² . These islands in the Indian Ocean are located approximately 2100 km from Australia, to which they belong.

Cocos Islands are divided into two groups according to the atolls to which they belong. The South Atoll consists of 27 islands, and the North Atoll is a single island, which is a national park. There are no inhabitants on this island (the population of the southern atoll is about 600 people), and tourists visit it quite rarely. But for birds of rare species, this small piece of land is a breeding and nesting site. One of these species is endemic (dwells only in this region) Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi.


Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi

During the data collection, scientists visited 7 inhabited and uninhabited islands, which in total occupy 88% of the land of the Cocos Islands. Data was collected both on the shores from the ocean and from the lagoon, which made it possible to estimate different degrees of garbage density.


Image # 2: A - the east side of the South Island, B - the north side of the Direction Island, C - the coastal vegetation along the northeast side of the Home Island, D - plastic micro-garbage (1-5 mm) along the east side of the South Island.

Collected garbage can be divided into two main categories: macro-garbage (more than 5 mm) and micro-garbage (2-5 mm). Samples were collected from 25 beaches, and the area of ​​the fence was about 1100 m ² . In the assessment of pollution, garbage located in the ground also participated (depth up to 10 cm).

Collected trash samples were measured, weighed and classified by type (plastic, glass, wood, etc.).

Research results

In total 23227 units of garbage were collected, the total weight was 96.67 kg. If you extrapolate these data, which relate to the area under study, over the entire territory of the islands, you get 414 million pieces of garbage (238 tons).


Table of the amount of garbage by islands and by the place of pollution (on the surface of the earth, in water, in the earth, etc.).

On the territory of the studied beaches (868 m ² ) 70.73 kg of garbage (18,928 units) were collected in total. The density of beach surface pollution ranged from 4.72 to 55.67 units of garbage per square meter (average density: 21.68 ± 19.01 units per m ² ). Approximately half of the collected waste (51.35 ± 9.31%) was made up of small particles of plastic. Applying extrapolation, scientists calculated that 14.29 million units of plastic waste (47.96 tons) are located throughout the Cocos Islands.


Table of indicators of the density of garbage on the islands and the place of pollution.

In the ground (buried garbage) approximately 6.32% of the total amount of garbage on the beaches (1467 units or 0.23 kg) was found. The density of the buried garbage ranged from 28.13 to 2506.25 units per m ² , depending on the place of study. The average density is 654.91 ± 869.97. Calculations showed that about 61.60 tons of garbage (383.99 million units) were buried throughout the islands.

Beach areas that are affected by water only in cases of severe storms were also covered with debris. In total, about 2622 units with a total weight of 25.71 kg were seized. These data refer only to the studied zones, the total area of ​​which is 240 m ² . The density of garbage in these areas ranged from 2.28 to 51.25 units per m ² (average density: 10.93 ± 15.39). Thus, the coastline of all islands is contaminated with 15.32 million pieces of garbage (128.42 tons).

Garbage is different depending on the material from which it is made. Paper and wood are not as scary as plastic, due to the time required for decomposition. Unfortunately, 95.41% of the investigated waste was made of plastic. The most massive plastic garbage turned out to be objects that can often be found on beaches with vacationers: shoes (Vietnamese) - 549 units, drinking straws - 235 units and bottle caps - 840 units.

For more information about the study I recommend to look into the report of scientists .

Conclusions (terrible and obvious)

In total, taking into account all the observations and calculations, scientists found that there are 413.6 million units of garbage on the Cocos Islands, that is, 238 tons. For comparison, the weight of one package of 8 × 10 cm is about 0.4 grams. If we have 238 tons (238 000 000 grams), then we get 595 000 000 packaging bags.



At the same time, scientists note that despite the impressive figures, the real can be even more, because they failed to investigate the entire area of ​​the islands by 100%, and the calculations always have a certain error. For example, buried debris was withdrawn no deeper than 10 cm and only in certain areas of research. In other words, scientists call their data very “positive”, since in reality the situation with pollution is even worse.

The horrific picture of turning a tropical paradise into trash is not unique to the Cocos Islands. From the south to the north pole there is a great many of the same polluted islands. Cocos Islands are just an example to demonstrate the gloom of the situation.



The cruel irony lies in the fact that many islands (like Cocos) are inscribed on World Heritage lists or are national parks. In such places, human activity is not conducted, people do not live (practically), but there is still garbage. It may not be made on the islands themselves, but sails across the oceans to their shores.

By 2025, the number of garbage polluting the oceans and islands will increase by an order of magnitude. It is not a panacea to clean up what is already there, for it will take months. And then the waves will beat a couple more tons of garbage. As an example, researchers cite the Vietnamese: on the Cocos Islands there are about 977,000 units (in the form of garbage), and the inhabitants of these islands will need about 4,000 years to independently accumulate so much shoe in the form of garbage. That is, it is impossible to regulate the procedures for recycling garbage, toughen the penalty for pollution, etc. only where there is a lot of garbage, because not all of this garbage is produced there.



A big problem for many island states that want to tackle a garbage epidemic is the lack of capacity to recycle or even dump the garbage. Cocos Islands can not even ask for help from their neighbors, because Australia is very tightly regulates everything that falls on its territory. If according to the laws it is impossible to bring some products, then what can we say about garbage.

The situation with pollution of the World Ocean is similar to the situation with global warming: as long as the rooster does not bite below the tailbone, no one will lift a finger, forgive me for the sharp statement. Some say that the government should deal with this, others, that each of us is involved in the pollution process. But both are right. We can throw plastic into the recycling bin, but where will the garbage truck take it? No, this does not mean that you need to stop sorting your garbage. Sort the need, it is a must. But this is not enough.



As the fish rots from the head, so the path of garbage, ending on the beaches of the Cocos Islands, originates from production. Plastic is the ideal material for packaging - lightweight, easy to manufacture, and most importantly, damn cheap. If we use materials that will decompose very quickly in the ground, the price of goods made from them will increase. However, this is due to the fact that the production of environmentally friendly materials is not so massive. Of course, if you produce 1000 plastic bags a day at equal costs, they cost a penny, and if you produce 10 paper ones, for example, then they cost more. Someone will say that the production of an environmentally-friendly sachet takes place in a factory, which may be far from being environmentally-friendly. This is a valid remark. Only the product that is not only made of such materials, but also the process of its manufacture did not have a negative impact on the environment, can be called completely environmentally friendly. It sounds more like a utopia, an impracticable future, rather than a reality. Which factory will want to completely change its production, the materials and products used to soothe a couple of hysterical environmentalists? But the fact is that it is not hysterical and not panic, it is common sense. If you litter - it will be dirty. If you do not clean - it will be dirty. If you do not recycle, then soon there will be pack storms, foam snow and Vietnamese islands.



The ruin is not in the closet, but in the heads. Yes, it is difficult for a person to reorganize in a new way, but it is necessary. Yes, it takes more time and effort to sort garbage than to banally throw out a garbage bag into one container. You can not live on the principle of "a, after me even the flood."

With all the horror of the ecological situation in the world, there is hope, a small one, visible only under a microscope, but there is one. I will give an example from personal experience. In the yard of my house before there were ordinary garbage cans. Later put 2 normal and 2 for recyclable garbage. The first few months, the filling rate was not in favor of processing - people continued to throw everything in the usual containers in the old manner. But then, slowly and confidently, the situation became different - people began to sort the garbage. Now there are already 3 containers for recycling in the yard, and at the entrances there are small boxes for batteries and accumulators with a funny inscription “Batteries, give up!”. All this - small steps in the right direction. For it doesn't matter who you are, where you are from and what your views on the world around you, it is important that we live on the same planet.



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