Persistence of Plastic Litter in the Oceans

By A. Andrady. 2015

569 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The increasing global production and use of plastics has led to an accumulation of enormous amounts of plastic litter in the world’s oceans. Characteristics such as low density, good mechanical properties and low cost allow for successful use of plastics in industries and everyday life but the high durability leads to persistence of the synthetic polymers in the marine environment where they cause harm to a great variety of organisms. In the diverse marine habitats, including beaches, the sea surface, the water column, and the seafloor, plastics are exposed to different environmental conditions that either accelerate or decelerate the physical, chemical and biological degradation of plastics. Degradation of plastics occurs primarily through solar UV-radiation induced photo oxidation reactions and is, thus, most intensive in photic environments such as the sea surface and on beaches. The rate of degradation is temperature-dependent resulting in considerable deceleration of the processes in seawater, which is a good heat sink. Below the photic zone in the water column, plastics degrade very slowly resulting in high persistence of plastic litter especially at the seafloor. Biological decomposition of plastics by microorganisms is negligible in the marine environment because the kinetics of biodegradation at sea is particularly slow and oxygen supply for these processes limited. Degradation of larger plastic items leads to the formation of abundant small microplastics. The transport of small particles to the seafloor and their deposition in the benthic environment is facilitated by the colonization of the material by fouling organisms, which increase the density of the particles and force them to sink.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7838382bc267e14e648b0035719334fae1482971

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Citations in the corpus

Plastic and marine turtles: a review and call for research (2016, background): “Once seaborne, plastic persists in the marine environment, fragmenting into smaller pieces as a result of wave action, exposure to UV and physical abrasion (Andrady, 2015).”
Impact of Microplastics and Nanoplastics on Human Health (2021, background): “This process speeds up on the coast when plastic is more directly exposed to UV radiation and higher temperatures than when it is in the oceans [30].”
Plastic in global rivers: are floods making it worse? (2020, background): “…initial— sometimes toxic—components (Staples et al 1997, Gallo et al 2018), while many of the plastic particles can also act as natural adsorbent of hydrophobic chemicals (Teuten et al 2007, Andrady 2011, 2015, Ziccardi et al 2016), thus acting as a vector of bioaccumulation of these substances.”
A Global Perspective on Microplastics (2020, background): “Chemical oxidation of the polymer as a result of exposure to sunlight is often themost impactful (Andrady, 2015).”
Microplastics in fisheries and aquaculture (2017, background): “In aquatic environments areas with reduced UV exposure and low temperature (such as the deep sea) will slow down the process of secondary microplastic generation (Andrady, 2015).”
Observations of floating anthropogenic litter in the Barents Sea and Fram Strait, Arctic (2016, background): “Plastics are long lasting and non-biodegradable (Andrady 2015) and carry added and/or adsorbed pollutants (Engler 2012).”
Deleterious Effects of Litter on Marine Life (2015, background): “Awareness has grown that plastics may become less visible but do not really disappear as they become fragmented into small persistent particles (‘plastic soup’) (Andrady 2015).”
Does size and buoyancy affect the long-distance transport of floating debris? (2015, background): “There is little empirical data on the degradation rate of floating plastic items, but in general plastics degrade even more slowly at sea than on land (Andrady 2015).”
Modeling the Role of Microplastics in Bioaccumulation of Organic Chemicals to Marine Aquatic Organisms. A Critical Review (2015, background): “Second, plastic items may slowly disintegrate and degrade under the influence of turbulence and UV radiation or by microbial activity (Andrady 2011, 2015).”