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Oceans are polluted by plastic particles ranging in size from large original material such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the fragmentation of plastic material. This material is only very slowly degraded or removed from the ocean so plastic particles are now widespread throughout the surface ocean and are known to be ...
This process of breaking down large plastic material into much smaller pieces is known as fragmentation. [31] It is considered that microplastics might further degrade to be smaller in size, although the smallest microplastic reportedly detected in the oceans in 2017 was 1.6 micrometres (6.3×10 −5 in) in diameter. [33]
Plastic pollution in the ocean is a type of marine pollution by plastics, ranging in size from large original material such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the fragmentation of plastic material. Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats on, or is suspended in the ocean.
The rest was pre-consumer waste from resin production and manufacturing of plastic products (e.g. materials rejected due to unsuitable color, hardness, or processing characteristics). [ 2 ] The Ocean Conservancy reported that China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam dump more plastic into the sea than all other countries combined ...
Plastic pollution in the ocean is a type of marine pollution by plastics, ranging in size from large original material such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the fragmentation of plastic material. Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats on, or is suspended in the ocean.
The microbial species found within plastisphere differ from other floating materials that naturally occur (i.e., feathers and algae) due to plastic's unique chemical nature and slow speed of biodegradation. In addition to microbes, insects have come to flourish in areas of the ocean that were previously uninhabitable.
The United States National Academy of Sciences estimated in 2022 that the worldwide entry of plastic into the ocean was 8 million metric tons of plastic per year. [63] A 2021 study by The Ocean Cleanup estimated that rivers convey between 0.8 and 2.7 million metric tons of plastic into the ocean, and ranked these river's countries. The top ten ...
The South Pacific garbage patch is an area of ocean with increased levels of marine debris and plastic particle pollution, within the ocean's pelagic zone. This area is in the South Pacific Gyre , which itself spans from waters east of Australia to the South American continent, as far north as the Equator , and south until reaching the ...