Category: Plastic Pollution

The current pandemic has led to surging amounts of plastic waste, although a recent study suggests that the coronavirus might actually persist longer on plastics than on other materials. Battling plastic waste is much more complex than fighting COVID-19.

The global fashion industry generates a huge amount of waste – one full garbage truck of clothes is burned or sent to a landfill every second, and, 60% of materials used by the industry are plastic fibers – the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles are leaked into the ocean through garment wash every year.

An international research project has revealed the highest levels of microplastic ever recorded on the seafloor, with up to 1.9 million pieces in a thin layer covering just 1 square meter. The hotspots appear to be the deep-sea equivalents of the so-called ‘garbage patches’ formed by currents on the ocean surface.

A team of researchers from the University of Tasmania has found evidence of microplastics in ice cores collected off the coast of Antarctica. They also note that prior studies have shown that microplastics in ice can lead to melting due to heat absorption.

Of all the plastic that enters Earth’s oceans each year, just 1% has been observed floating on the surface. So where is the rest of it?