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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 ...
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 ...
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]
The biofilm-like habitat at the surface of the ocean harbours surface-dwelling microorganisms, commonly referred to as neuston. [20] The sea surface microlayer (SML) constitutes the uppermost layer of the ocean, only 1–1000 μm thick, with unique chemical and biological properties that distinguish it from the underlying water (ULW).
[1] [2] As of 2022, an estimated 51 trillion microplastics are floating in the surface water of the world's oceans. [3] A single 5mm piece of plastic can host 1,000s of different microbial species. [4] Some marine bacteria can break down plastic polymers and use the carbon as a source of energy. Microbes interacting with the surface of plastics.
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 ...
Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created solid material that has deliberately or accidentally been released in seas or the ocean.Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or tidewrack.