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Oceanic Microplastics Outweigh Plankton: California State Hearing Tomorrow on Bold Plan Against Plastic Litter and Waste

By Mark Murray
Executive Director
Californians Against Waste

The California Ocean Protection Council—a newly created state agency established by the Legislature and Governor to better coordinate and address efforts to protect the marine environment—will meet Thursday in Santa Monica to consider an ambitious set of policy recommendations aimed at stemming the threat to water quality and marine wildlife posed by plastic litter and waste.

Marine debris—in particular non-biodegradeable plastics—pose a serious and growing threat to Ocean and marine environment. The largest source of marine debris—up to 80%—is land-discharged plastic waste. Take-out food packaging, plastic bags, cigarette buts and other waste littered far inland is blown or washed through the storm drain system and flushed out to sea.

The environmental affects of this deluge of plastic particles are only beginning to be understood. Levels of plastic in the marine environment have been increasing—in some areas by a factor of three. Some studies suggest that oceanic microplastics may now outweigh plankton by a factor of six! Nearly half of all marine bird species and nearly all marine turtle species have been affected by plastics—which can be mistaken as food and cause starvation.

The economic affects of plastic pollution in the marine environment is already being felt. California’s $46 billion economy is highly dependent on the ocean and we are already spending in excess of $170 million annually on litter clean up. In addition, local municipalities are facing billions spending hundreds of millions trying to meet US EPA Total Maximum Daily Loads for trash in impaired waterways.

Californians Against Waste, Heal the Bay, and a coalition of other conservation and coastal protection groups are urging the members of the council to take aggressive action to the reduce plastic litter and waste that ultimately becomes marine debris.

Topping the list of OPC recommendations is support for legislation to Expand California's Bottle Bill to include all plastic containers—a category which contributes significantly and disproportionately to marine debris. An analysis by CAW finds that expanding the bottle bill to all plastic bottles can reduce plastic litter and waste by more than 80,000 tons annually. Even when properly disposed, plastic containers can blow from trash cans, garbage trucks and landfills to become litter that is flushed through the storm drain system and into the marine environment. Experience has demonstrated that no other policy is more effective at reducing plastic litter and waste than establishing consumer and recycler incentives for recycling.

Restrict Take-out food packaging to materials that are recyclable and/or compostable. One of the biggest culprits of marine plastics litter is foamed polystyrene takeout food packaging, commonly referred to by its Dow Chemical trademark “Styrofoam”. One California Department of Transportation study found that foamed polystyrene products constituted the second-largest category of waste found in storm drains.

Lawmakers have been increasingly focusing on the incontrovertible link between disposable plastics and marine pollution. Several local municipalities have enacted ordinances banning foamed polystyrene food packaging and the Ocean Protection Council’s recommendation will have significant bearing the local ordinance effort and soon to be introduced statewide legislation.

The OPC is recognizing the role pre-production plastic pellets (called “nurdles”) play in marine pollution. Plastic pellets are the starting foundation of many plastic products—108 billion pounds of which were produced in 2000. Inevitably, some of these pellets are spilled during production and transportation. The US EPA finds these plastic production pellets in nearly every body of water it looks. In one sweep in the Houston shipping channel 250,000 pellets were discovered.

The OPC is also looking to expanding the use of new, more environmentally-friendly materials (such as compostable plastics) and to expand watershed clean-ups, increase the availability of trash and recycling receptacles near beaches and to encourage environmental education.

Learn more about what CAW is doing on this issue:
• Californians Against Waste Home
• Plastic Litter and Waste Reduction Campaign
• Stemming the Rising Tide of Marine Debris
• Foamed Polystyrene Waste Reduction

Additional Resources:
• Ocean Protection Council
• California Coastal Commission
• US EPA Site on Marine Debris
• NOAA Site on Marine Debris
• Plastics Debris Rivers to Sea

Mark Murray is the Executive Director of the environmental group Californians Against Waste (CAW). He lobbies for CAW and is recognized as one of the environmental communities leading experts on waste prevention and recycling policies. CAW has been actively involved in the development, negotiation and passage of virtually every piece of waste reduction and recycling legislation enacted in California.

Posted on February 07, 2007

Comments

As a marine aquarist, I have developed a love for the ocean and support public policy measures that will protect and improve it for generations to come. Indeed, a healthy ocean is a key to sustaining life on this planet.

But your statement that microplastics might outweigh plankton by a factor of six is point-and-laugh absurd. Technically, plankton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankton) is everything that drifts in the water column, ranging from jellyfish to micro viruses. It is likely that human’s have never produced as much material of any sort since discovering fire as the weight of plankton on the planet right now. Although someone may have conducted a study in one dead estuary close to a public beach that shows such concentrations of micro plastic, it is the height of junk science to make such a claim about the entire ocean.

This misstatement is on par with assuming that cigarette butts outweigh insects by a factor of six. While that may be true around a bus stop, the Amazon jungle has lots of insects and relatively few cigarette butts.

Please do not use junk science to make otherwise good points. Such intellectual dishonesty degrades both the important point and the dishonest author.

Posted by: The Rest of the Story at February 10, 2007 08:23 AM

The magnitude of this false information prompted me to find the study alluded to by this piece. Just as I assumed, the study did not represent the oceans in general and was limited to near coastal waters, with measurements intentionally taken to maximize presence of plastics. At best the author was guilty of the layman's mistake of not qualifying the data. Dishonesty was too strong, but sloppy clearly applies.

Posted by: The Rest of the Story at February 10, 2007 09:29 AM

I suggest you take another look at the Study:

"There is now six times more plastic debris in part of the North Pacific Ocean than zooplankton the populous animal plankton that forms the base of the aquatic food chain."

Cite: C. J. Moore, S. L. Moore, M. K. Leecaster and S. B. Weisberg (December 2001). "A Comparison of Plastic and Plankton in the North Pacific Central Gyre", Marine Pollution Bulletin 42 (12), 1297-1300.

Certainly the piece--which was edited down from a significantly longer piece--would have benefited from a clarification that the area where the 'plastic vs plankton' analysis was conducted was the North Central Pacific Gyre.

However, far from being some isolated coastal waters, the North Central Pacific Gyre from which the analysis was taken is located between the equator and 50º N latitude and occupies an area of approximately ten million square miles (34 million km²).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pacific_Gyre

There appears to be considerable evidence that the volume of plastics in the marine environment is significant and growing and that this plastic poses a threat to water quality and marine wildlife.

I welcome any additional comments either supporting or disputing this contention.

Posted by: Mark Murray at February 10, 2007 12:05 PM

Update: On Thursday, the California Ocean Protection Council adopted a resolution calling for several new policies and programs aimed at reducing and recycling plastic waste and other marine debris. Among the proposals: expansion of the state's Bottle Bill program; restrictions on disposable takeout food packaging, and waste discharge requirements for facilities manufacturering plastic products.

Citing that levels of oceanic microplastics have at least tripled in the last decade and that California governments may be spending as much as $1 billion on clean-up, the state panel adopted a resolution that set timetables for the reduction of single-use plastic packaging, increasing criminal enforcement of plastics manufacturers that spill pre-production pellets, expanding the California Redemption Value to include plastics that contribute to marine debris, and to implement a phased ban of toxic plastic packaging, among many others.

More infor at: www.cawrecycles.org

Posted by: Mark Murray at February 10, 2007 12:21 PM

My name is Joel Harper and I am writing from Claremont California. I just wanted to introduce myself and a recent publication dealing with marine debris education and outreach. The book is intended for children, however written in such a way that ingages adults too! please visit the book on the web at www.allthewaytotheocean.com

Joel Harper

Posted by: joel harper at April 25, 2007 11:58 PM

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