Plastic pollution and our daily lives Plastic pollution and our daily lives

Plastics That Flow Into the Ocean
Impact our Daily Lives.

Plastics are indispensable in our daily lives. However, plastics have a destructive impact on marine organisms and the environments when the material flows into the ocean. Currently, 8 million tons(*1)per year are spewing into the seas. This comes to an accumulated total of 150 million tons(*2).

The mismanaged plastics impact marine ecosystems, and eventually our lives. For instance in a coastal town, we have to manage to clean up beaches where a vast amount of plastics wash up on the shores. These plastics spoil the landscape, leading to a decrease in revenue and employment in local tourism. Fisheries and aquaculture are experiencing major economic loss. The cumulative total for cleaning cost and loss in business revenue reaches USD13 billion (JPY1.4 trillion) per annum(*3).

By 2050, Our Oceans May Have More Plastics Than Fishes.

One of the characteristics of plastics is that it takes a long time to be degraded in nature. For this reason, as marine plastics continue to accumulate, the total amount is expected in 2050 to surpass the total volume of fishes, if the current pace of outflow continues(*4).

■The negative impact of plastics will further increase in 2050(*5)

Threats on Marine Ecosystems

Plastics that flow out into the ocean physically damage marine organisms. Plastic bags and fish nets entangle sea creatures and are often accidentally eaten or swallowed by them to kill them. More than 500 species are affected by marine plastic pollution and the number is increasing(*6).When floating plastics help introduce invasive species attached to new areas, the local ecosystems may be severely altered.

Marine plastics not only injure creatures directly, but also limit their activities
https://flic.kr/p/cEA4zG、CC BY 2.0

Not Just Marine, But a Global Environmental Problem

Marine plastics directly harm marine organisms but are also a serious global environmental issue that pollutes the ocean itself. The issue has been discussed in the United Nations and other high-level Intergovernmental meetings. Among the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) the Goal 14 is set to drastically reduce and prevent all types of marine pollutants including marine plastics by 2025.

■Marine plastics originate from our daily lives. Global cooperation is necessary to solve this problem.

Microplastics are Carriers of Toxic Substances

Microplastics are everywhere on beaches.

Various chemicals are added on plastics when they are produced, such as plasticizers and thermal stabilizers. Such additives can often have adverse effects on marine organisms, for example on reproductive functions, and can also turn to carcinogens. Microplastics (a size smaller than 5 mm or 3/16-in) that turned into this size through abrasion and exposure in ultra-violet rays release such harmful chemicals in the ocean and are taken in by organisms.

Also, microplastics absorb toxic substances like a sponge in the environment. As microplastics are carried by oceanic currents, these substances spread in the world ocean. In this way, microplastics act as the carriers of toxic substances(*7).

■Microplastics are acting as carriers to spread harmful substances.
  • Footnotes/ Bibliographies
  • *1: Jambeck et al. 2015
  • *2: McKinsey & Company and Ocean Conservancy (2015)
  • *3: http://www.cep.unep.org/cep-documents/unep-press-release-on- the-effects-of-plastic-waste-on-marine-ecosystems.pdf
  • *4: World Economic Forum 2016
  • *5: ‘The new Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics’, World Economic Forum 2016
  • *6: Kühn et al. 2015
  • *7: Mato et al. 2001