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Research papers on Ocean plastic pollution

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  1. Plastic as a Persistent Marine Pollutant

    Boris Worm, Heike K. Lotze, Isabelle Jubinville, et al. · 2017 · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · 754 citations

    Synthetic organic polymers—or plastics—did not enter widespread use until the 1950s. By 2015, global production had increased to 322 million metric tons (Mt) year −1 , which approaches the total weight of the human population produced in plastic every year. Approximately half is used for packaging and other disposables, 40% of plastic waste is not accounted for in managed landfills or recycling facilities, and 4.8–12.7 Mt year −1 enter the ocean as macroscopic litter and microplastic particles. Here, we argue that such mismanaged plastic waste is similar to other persistent pollutants, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which once threatened a

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  2. Plastic Pollution and Potential Solutions

    Christopher J. Rhodes · 2018 · Science Progress · 665 citations

    A review is presented of the manufacture and use of different types of plastic, and the effects of pollution by these materials on animal, human and environmental health, insofar as this is known. Since 2004, the world has made as much plastic as it did in the previous half century, and it has been reckoned that the total mass of virgin plastics ever made amounts to 8.3 billion tonnes, mainly derived from natural gas and crude oil, used as chemical feedstocks and fuel sources. Between 1950 and 2015, a total of 6.3 billion tonnes of primary and secondary (recycled) plastic waste was generated, of which around 9% has been recycled, and 12% incinerated, with the remaining 79% either being store

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  3. Microbial Ecotoxicology of Marine Plastic Debris: A Review on Colonization and Biodegradation by the “Plastisphere”

    Justine Jacquin, Jingguang Cheng, Charlène Odobel, et al. · 2019 · Frontiers in Microbiology · 533 citations

    Over the last decades, it has become clear that plastic pollution presents a global societal and environmental challenge given its increasing presence in the oceans. A growing literature has focused on the microbial life growing on the surfaces of these pollutants called the "plastisphere," but the general concepts of microbial ecotoxicology have only rarely been integrated. Microbial ecotoxicology deals with (i) the impact of pollutants on microbial communities and inversely (ii) how much microbes can influence their biodegradation. The goal of this review is to enlighten the growing literature of the last 15 years on microbial ecotoxicology related to plastic pollution in the oceans. First

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  5. Reducing environmental plastic pollution by designing polymer materials for managed end-of-life

    Kara Lavender Law, Ramáni Narayan · 2021 · Nature Reviews Materials · 481 citations

    Plastics are a ubiquitous class of synthetic polymer materials used in virtually all commercial and industrial sectors. The majority of global plastics consists of polymers with carbon–carbon backbones, whose environmental persistence and low cost have resulted in a massive reservoir of plastic waste that resides in landfills and the environment. Although plastic debris contaminating the ocean has been documented for decades, details about plastic debris composition, distribution, impact and ultimate fate in the environment remain elusive. In this Review, we present an overview of environmental plastic contamination and discuss the origin (feedstock) and degradation behaviour of plastics to

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  6. Plastic pollution solutions: emerging technologies to prevent and collect marine plastic pollution

    Emma Schmaltz, Emily C. Melvin, Zoie Taylor Diana, et al. · 2020 · Environment International · 457 citations

    As plastic waste accumulates in the ocean at alarming rates, the need for efficient and sustainable remediation solutions is urgent. One solution is the development and mobilization of technologies that either 1)prevent plastics from entering waterways or2) collect marine and riverineplastic pollution. To date, however, few reports have focused on these technologies, and information on various technological developments is scattered. This leaves policymakers, innovators, and researchers without a central, comprehensive, and reliable source of information on the status of available technology to target this global problem. The goal of this study was to address this gap by creating a comprehen

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  7. The fundamental links between climate change and marine plastic pollution

    Helen V. Ford, Nia H. Jones, Andrew John Davies, et al. · 2021 · The Science of The Total Environment · 396 citations

    Plastic pollution and climate change have commonly been treated as two separate issues and sometimes are even seen as competing. Here we present an alternative view that these two issues are fundamentally linked. Primarily, we explore how plastic contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the beginning to the end of its life cycle. Secondly, we show that more extreme weather and floods associated with climate change, will exacerbate the spread of plastic in the natural environment. Finally, both issues occur throughout the marine environment, and we show that ecosystems and species can be particularly vulnerable to both, such as coral reefs that face disease spread through plastic po

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  8. Marine Environmental Plastic Pollution: Mitigation by Microorganism Degradation and Recycling Valorization

    Juliana Oliveira, Afonso Belchior, Verônica Diniz da Silva, et al. · 2020 · Frontiers in Marine Science · 240 citations

    Plastics are very useful materials and present numerous advantages in the daily life of individuals and society. However, plastics are accumulating in the environment and due to their low biodegradability rate, this problem will persist for centuries. Until recently, oceans were treated as places to dispose of litter, thus the persistent substances are causing serious pollution issues. Plastic and microplastic waste has a negative environmental, social, and economic impact, e.g., causing injury/death to marine organisms and entering the food chain, which leads to health problems. The development of solutions and methods to mitigate marine (micro)plastic pollution is in high demand. There is

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  12. A marine plastic cloud - Global mass balance assessment of oceanic plastic pollution

    Peter Townsend Harris, Thomas Maes, Karen Raubenheimer, et al. · 2023 · Continental Shelf Research · 92 citations

    To improve our understanding and management of marine plastic pollution of the ocean, a total plastic budget is needed which quantifies the sources and sinks, as well as inputs and removal of plastic per unit time. The current state of knowledge indicates that the coastal zone and ocean water column are major locations for plastic pollution, but the fate of much of this must ultimately be the deep ocean floor. We reviewed 23 journal articles that provide 280 observations of deep-sea sediment microplastic concentration across six different off-shelf environments. We calculate the following mean concentrations of microplastic particles (number) per kg of sediment: continental slope 502; submar

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  20. Effect of Plastic Ocean Pollution on Marine Life and Human Health in Brazil

    Lucas Augusto · 2024 · International Journal of Environmental Sciences · 1 citations

    Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine effect of plastic ocean pollution on marine life and human health in Brazil. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: The study found that pervasive presence of plastic debris in Brazil's coastal waters threatens marine ecosystems, leading to entanglement, ingestion, and suffocatio

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  21. Oceanic pollution; A threat to life

    Farzeen Saeed · 2021 · Pure and Applied Biology · 1 citations

    Water covers about 71% of the Earth's surface and is a basic need for all the oceanic fauna and flora.According to the Ocean Pollutants Guide, 2018, marine life is constantly being harmed and there is an abundance of plastic pollution still found on the shorelines.Along with that, oceanic dead zones have expanded four times since the 20 th century.If harm to the oceans continues, then there is a chance that every species of animals existing in the marine environment will be endangered.All of this is due to anthropogenic activities such as sewage entry into the oceans, oil spills and plastic pollution which form the top three oceanic pollutants, destroying the marine ecosystems.These pollutan

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  22. Plastic Waste and Marine Ecosystem Disruption: A Data-Driven Analysis of Ocean Pollution

    Shadab Fardin, Sadman Sahat Majumder Asif · 2025 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

    Plastic pollution is endangering marine ecosystems globally. The study analyzes data on plastic production, waste management and ocean pollution, showing rising plastic waste and low recycling rates. Without action, marine pollution will worsen by 2030. Urgent global efforts are needed to promote sustainability and protect ocean life.

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  23. Marine Plastic Pollution: What Will Happen to the Global Plastics Treaty?

    Tony R. Walker · 2026 · Ocean Yearbook Online

    The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee failed to secure a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty at the second session of INC-5 in 2025 in Geneva. This failure to reach an agreement, highlights the deep geopolitical and economic divisions that limit multilateral environmental agreements. More than 70 countries in the High-Ambition Coalition supported upstream interventions, such as capping plastic production and phasing out hazardous chemical additives. However, fossil-fuel producing member states (members of the Like-Minded Group) supported by petrochemical lobbyists, pushed to limit the text of the treaty to downstream measures, such as improvements to recycling and better waste manag

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