Study warns of plastic flood in the sea

Created: 02/08/2022, 00:15

A plastic bag on a coral reef in Malaysia.

© WWF/dpa

The EU has already restricted the use of plastic bags and single-use tableware.

The plastic flood in the oceans is far from stopped, as a study shows.

Bremerhaven - The environmental association WWF warns of the dramatic consequences of the increasing plastic waste in the seas.

Plastic pollution has increased exponentially in recent decades, the WWF said, citing a study by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven.

For the meta-study commissioned by the environmental organization, the institute evaluated 2,592 studies that were carried out between the 1960s and 2019.

danger to animals

Plastic waste decomposes in the ocean into micro- and nanoplastics, said the head of the marine protection department at WWF Germany, Heike Vesper.

That is why the microplastic content will more than double in the next 30 years.

Effects were found on almost 90 percent of the marine species examined, said the marine biologist and co-author of the study, Melanie Bergmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute.

However, little research has been done on these connections.

But: "The documented effects are extremely worrying," said Bergmann.

Animals such as seals or sea turtles could become entangled and suffocate in plastic waste.

The same fate can befall birds that build their nests out of plastic waste.

This has been observed with the gannets on Heligoland, for example.

When debris covers the sea floor, corals and sponges lack light and oxygen.

Turtles and predatory fish, as well as dolphins and whales, mistake plastic parts for prey.

After eating, they felt a false sense of satiety, suffered from constipation and internal injuries.

With the plastic waste, the animals also ingest chemicals that could affect their reproduction.

Rubbish is often dumped directly into the sea

The Mediterranean Sea, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are particularly affected.

Coral reefs and mangrove forests are in danger.

In some places off the Indonesian island of Java, half of the seabed is covered with plastic waste.

More and more plastic waste is also accumulating in the deep sea, which makes up 70 percent of the earth's surface.

The garbage is often dumped directly into the sea or washed away from landfills during floods.

Single-use plastic accounts for 60 to 95 percent of pollution.

According to the study, between 86 and 150 million tons of plastic have accumulated in the ocean.

Microplastics also get into the oceans via wastewater.

Modern sewage treatment plants hold back 97 to 90 percent of the particles, but in a city like Berlin or Hamburg one percent still means a large amount, said Bergmann.

Wind turbines also contribute to pollution

According to estimates by the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology, the main sources of microplastics in Germany are abrasion from tires and bitumen in the asphalt and release during waste disposal.

Abrasion from shoe soles is in 7th place in the Institute's ranking, ahead of the frequently mentioned fiber abrasion in textile washing (10th place) and particles in cosmetics (17th place).

Wind turbines also contribute to ocean pollution, as Bergmann confirmed.

The lakes would be blown away by the wind.

However, this amount cannot yet be quantified, nor can the increasing waste caused by masks and other corona protection devices.

WWF calls for global agreement

The WWF called on the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), which was meeting in Nairobi at the end of February, to initiate a legally binding global agreement against plastic entering the oceans.

In Germany there is already an awareness of the problem.

Some time ago, the EU banned certain single-use plastic packaging.

In her experience, it was "the fastest environmental legislation ever," praised Vesper.

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However, some improvements take time, as spokesman for the utility Hamburg Wasser, Ole Braukmann, said.

Hamburg's red-green coalition agreement provides for examining the installation of a fourth cleaning stage in the sewage treatment plant.

However, it is a high investment for 50 to 60 years, the advantages and disadvantages of which must be carefully considered.

Cleaning processes with activated carbon, for example, are very energy-intensive and expensive.

dpa