Being near a beach, it was my
inclination to visit the beach, which I did do. I visited the beach to get a
feel of the sand. I visited the beach to watch the waves, both at high and low
tides. I visited the beach to enjoy the flows and ebbs of the waves, by just
watching them. I visited the beach to lie on the sand for the cool waves to
flow over my body. I visited the beach to do many a splendid thing. I have made
the statements in the past tense, which means I do not do visits to the beach
anymore. As a principle, yes, I do not visit the beach anymore.
Why? Times were when I went to
the beach to cool off in the ocean it was like lying in a pool of plastic. One
was submerged in plastic waste. That turned me off. The ocean is the Atlantic
Ocean. It is about 200 meters from where I reside in Ghana, West Africa. I have
been around long enough to know that when we were young the pollution level was
not that high. The current level now is abnormally high.
I had always asked myself whether
it was a peculiar issue. It has bothered me that it was an issue developing
world specific. I wanted to know what was happening elsewhere in the world, on
a global scale, and quantum of plastic involved globally and thereby per person.
So I had to wallow in a measure of ignorance wondering whether it was a
developing world malady.
Then a research finding came up.
It took six years to do that research, up to 2013. The research was made up of
data from scientists from United States, France, Chile, Australia and New
Zealand. The research indicated there was a minimum of 5.25 trillion plastic
particles in the oceans, weighing about 269,000 tons. The indication was that
plastic pollution was globally distributed across all oceans because of the
ability of plastic to stay afloat and remain in good condition for a long time.
The research was said to be the first of its kind, collating data on floating
plastic from around the world, and would be used to track future trends in
ocean debris.
Plastic Europe, a trade
organization for plastic producers and manufacturers reported that 288 million
tons of plastic were produced worldwide in 2012.
The percentage analysis of the
plastic waste weight is 75.4% macroplastic, 11.4% mesoplastic, 10.6% larger
microplastic and 2.6% smaller microplastic. Macroplastic is large size plastic
pieces. Mesoplastic is intermediate size plastic pieces. Microplastic is small
size plastic pieces. With the microplastic there are large and small pieces.
The measurement range for macroplastic is 200mm upwards. The measurement range
for mesoplastic is between 4.75mm and 200mm. The range for microplastic is between
0.33mm and 4.75mm.
The research covered the northern
and southern sections of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The research covered
the five subtropical gyres, coastal Australia, Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean
Sea. A gyre is a rotating ocean current. The five subtropical gyres are the
Indian Ocean Gyre, the North Atlantic Gyre, the North Pacific Gyre, South
Atlantic Gyre and the South Pacific Gyre. These gyres serve as convergence
points for plastic waste, possibly shredders of the plastic.
The source of the plastic waste
is throwaway food and drink packaging and clothing. Plastics are made from
petrochemicals. Polyethylene is a common plastic. It is commonly used in
packaging, like plastic bags, plastic containers, plastic films etc. Just last
week I went to Shoprite (a shopping mall in Osu-Accra, Ghana, West Africa) to get
supplies. The brown bread I bought was wrapped in a plastic bag. The cucumber I
bought was packaged in a plastic material. Plastic is used everywhere. It looks
like our civilization cannot do without plastic.
As indicated the weight of floating plastic deposited into the oceans is about 269,000 tons. How much of that did
you, yes you- you as an average individual, deposit into the oceans? Even if
you as an individual did not deposit any plastic matter into the oceans, the harm
has been done and it is now the shared responsibility of each and every person
inhabiting the earth to face the issue and find a solution to it. To find the
answer to the question of average individual deposition of floating plastic, I am going to divide
269,000 tons by 7.2 million (which was the world population in 2013). The
answer is 0.037 tons of plastic waste or 82.88 pounds of plastic waste or 37.59
kilograms of plastic waste. Picture a 25 kg of rice plus another 13 kg of rice
as an illustration.
The problem with plastic is its
disposal as waste. From the factories to the consumers. Between the consumers
and the oceans something goes wrong. Water sold in plastic sachets is common in
Ghana. People buy water, after drinking it the sachet is dropped on the ground
or into the gutter. The wind blows what is on the ground into the gutter. The
gutter is hardly cleaned. When the rains come they wash the plastic waste in
the gutter into the ocean. This is just one way by which plastic waste enters
the oceans. A little here, a little there and you get 269,000 tons of floating plastic
waste in the oceans!
I have been saying that the
natural environment is made up of three main components namely, air, water and
earth. Air is being polluted. Water is being polluted. Earth is being polluted.
All three fronts are being polluted by the activities of man, yet the survival
of man on Earth is dependent on the cleanliness and balance of the three
components individually, and as a whole.
A measure of recycling is going
on but obviously it is not enough. People in Ghana, particularly women go round picking
dropped water sachets to be recycled. Some of the water sachets picked are
being used to make bags by a company in Ghana.
Man up, man!
Reference:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913
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