14 Million Tonnes Of Microplastics Sitting On The Sea Floor & Humans Are To Blame For The Mess
The world's?sea floor?is littered with an estimated?14 million?tonnes of?microplastics, broken down from the masses of rubbish humans dump into the water.??
A new study from Australia's national science agency CSIRO and published in the journal?Frontiers in Marine Science, has shed some light on this plastic problem and the crisis it will bring along.?
Researchers have suggested that pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters (0.19 inches) -- worn down by the elements into tiny fragments -- have been found on the seafloor.?That's more than 35 times as much plastic than is believed to be floating on the surface, the study suggests.??
Millions of tonnes of plastic enter the world¡¯s oceans every year and despite efforts to reduce the use of plastics, the volume of plastics in the marine environment is expected to increase further.?Once in the sea, the plastics gradually disintegrate and can be easily ingested by marine organisms. They can also end up in the human food chain.?
The study is the first global estimate of how much microplastic there is on the seafloor.
The samples used in the study were collected using a robotic submarine at depths of as much as 3,000 metres (9,842 feet) from six sites in the Great Australian Bight, up to 380 kilometers (236 miles) off the coast of South Australia.
Based on the deep-sea plastic densities, the researchers estimated the volume of microplastics on the seafloor worldwide.They include tiny pieces of degraded plastic, and synthetic fibres as well as plastic beads used in cosmetic items and even in toothpaste and laundry powder soap.
