Plastics and the Marine Environment

Plastics in the marine environment have become inescapable and include everything from fishing nets to tampon applicators to household waste. Commercial fisherman alone purposely dump 52 million lbs of plastic packing into the ocean every year and lose an additional 298 million lbs in the form of plastic nets, lines and buoys [8]. 

Plastics are manufactured to be durable, which is an important aspect of their resistance in the marine environment. Common plastic wastes are reported to have a life expectancy of 450 years in seawater. Plastic debris in the marine environment is unsightly and threatens tourism at many of the world s beaches. Plastic causes the deaths of perhaps 2 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year according to the Entanglement Network, a coalition of 18 environmental groups in Washington, DC, USA [9]. 

In addition to raw plastic, plastic packaging also enters the marine environment in enormous quantities. In 1982 it was estimated that merchant ships alone dump some 639,000 plastic containers into the ocean every day [10]. Most plastics are buoyant and eventually wash up onshore where they slowly disintegrate into small pieces. 

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