A Plastic Ocean
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Review by Melissa Rice (MM Everett):
I found “A Plastic Ocean” to be very well done, as did the others at my venue who watched it on netflix. It follows a number of people working with the ocean or ocean life and looks at the impacts of plastic on marine life, birds, and humans. Finally, it looks at some solutions. I think it really brings home the urgency of the problem of plastics pollution and is a very compelling and engaging movie. It also makes clear that practical solutions are already within our means – we just need to make it happen.
For anyone interested, here are my detailed notes on “A Plastic Ocean”:
Summary:
It looks at the problem including:
– micro-plastics (small pieces of plastic from the breakup of larger plastic pieces)
– micro-beads (tiny plastic beads in facial scrubs and so on)
– nurdles (plastic pellets used in the manufacturing process)
– large pieces of plastic waste (bags, bottles, fishing nets, parachutes, etc)
The implications for wildlife and marine creatures:
– toxic chemicals adsorb to the surface of micro-plastics which are ingested by critters
– toxic chemicals are passed up the food chain
– critters ingest plastic and die from their stomachs filling up with plastic
– critters die from getting caught in discarded fishing nets and other plastic waste
The implications for humans:
– toxic chemicals and plastics get passed up the food chain
– we are drowning in our own garbage, much of it single-use plastic
– most plastics contain xeno-estrogens and endocrine disruptors
– creation of huge landfills, many of which have people living/working in them
Many solutions are mentioned:
– alternative materials (e.g., compostables)
– recycling (we have many good technologies already for sorting and processing)
– policy changes: Rwanda outlawed plastic bags,
Germany has a plastic bottle recycling law
– pyrolysis (thermal decomposition of polymers to monomers)
– pyrogenesis (plasma gasification of plastic to synthetic petroleum)
The viewer discretion warning is because they have some scenes of dissecting dead sea birds and finding their stomachs entirely full of plastic pieces (which prevented the bird from being able to eat).
Other random notes:
We are producing enormous amounts of plastic every day, much of it single use (water bottles, packaging, bags, etc). This gets landfilled or otherwise discarded and eventually makes its way into the ocean where it floats around whole or slowly gets broken up into “micro-plastic” chunks by the action of waves, UV (sunlight) and salt. Micro-plastics are “secondary” (they come from the break-up of larger pieces of plastic). This is distinct from “micro-beads” where are tiny pieces of plastic which are “primary” (they were purposely manufactured in that size, for instance, plastic beads in facial scrubs).
Large pieces of plastic and fishing nets and other debris can kill marine animals by strangling them or, if ingested, by blocking their digestive tract.
Micro-plastics are even more insidious because toxic chemicals in the ocean can adsorb onto the micro-plastics, which are then ingested by marine animals. These toxins are then passed up the food chain to the food we eat. In some parts of the ocean there is more micro-plastic than plankton (the base of the food chain). Shipping accidents have also released small plastic pellets (nurdles) into the ocean – nurdles are the raw stock for manufacturing plastic items.
About 25% of fish sampled from Indonesian markets contains plastic in the gut and in the US market about 25% of fish contains plastic and/or textile fibers in the gut. All European shellfish sampled in one study contained micro-plastics, which people are more likely to eat since one eats the whole shellfish.
Seabirds also ingest plastic that they pick up in the ocean and feed to their young. They showed the dissection of a seabird that was found dead and the stomach was entirely filled with plastic so the bird couldn’t eat food. One 90 day old chick that died had 15% of it’s body mass in plastic in its gut.
Turtles often eat plastic bags, which they mistake for jelly fish. The plastic produces gas in the stomach, making the turtle unable to dive.
In third world countries people are burning plastics for the their cooking fires because plastic is free, unlike kerosene or other fuels. This outgasses toxic fumes, including phthalates (used in plastic manufacture) which are endocrine disruptors.
In Manila there is a 123 acre garbage dump with about 2000 families living on it. About 1500 lbs of garbage a day ends up in waterways from the dump. The dump generates enough methane that it periodically catches on fire, creating toxic fumes from the burning plastic. The film also shows a bio/phyto-remediation project in Manila.
Germany has passed a plastic bottle recycling law – there’s a 25cent deposit on each plastic bottle. Rwanda has banned plastic bags.
https://plasticoceans.org/Some Washington state groups fighting plastic pollution:
https://environmentwashington.org/programs/keep-plastic-out-puget-sound
http://www.washington.edu/news/2017/06/29/uw-oceanography-senior-finds-plastic-microfibers-are-common-on-puget-sound-beaches/
https://www.earthday.org/2018/04/20/10-cities-and-countries-confronting-plastic-bag-pollution-head-on/
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/earth-day-2018-focuses-on-plastic-pollution/
http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/
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