DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #745: A PLASTIC OCEAN
During my youth back in the 'burbs of Chicago I often earned my spending money by collecting glass bottles and redeeming them. The smaller soft drink bottles netted 2¢ while the larger ones returned a whopping 5¢. Of course this was back in the day when a candy bar could be had for that paltry sum. Today, on Catalina, we can't even get our deposit back, and even if we could a candy bar can be as much as $1.50!
I was a youngster in the 1950s when "the wonderful world of plastic" crept onto the scene. Personally I rue the day. Glass was far easier to recycle and provided a safe, toxin free container. Yes, it was heavier, resulting in higher shipping costs and breakage was greater back then. However, the world has sold its soul to the plastic gods.
63 billion gallons of petroleum are used each year in the U.S. just to produce plastic water bottles. In our country 38 billion water bottles are discarded or turned in for recycling each year. I was once addicted to Coke (not the white powder... unless you're talking sugar). It is estimated more than 100 billion plastic Coke bottles are produced per year. The average person throws away 300 pounds of single use plastic each year. Of course my readers are well above average so hopefully they discard far less than that.
Residents of the United States are not alone in this plastic waste. I've traveled to many less developed countries to dive and often found single use plastic water bottles the only safe source of drinking water for the population. Frequently one sees pits filled with these empty bottles (often along with coconut husks).
Far too much of this plastic waste enters the ocean. Here, due to ultraviolet light from the sun and wave action, it is often broken up into smaller pieces. It is estimated that there are five TRILLION pieces of plastic afloat in our oceans, creating what some call a "plastic smog." These fragments often attract man-made organic compounds which are toxic. These small pieces may be ingested by plankton and plankton feeders, and then work their way up through the food chain.
Marine mammals and turtles are frequently found dead due to single use plastic bags in their gut. Marine birds such as shearwaters and Laysan albatross are dying due to the heavy loads of plastics clogging their stomachs. Young birds fed this toxic and indigestible plastic die as well. Eventually the food chains end up with humans consuming the fish and marine invertebrates... along with the plastic and toxins.
The toxins ingested with the plastics concentrate in the fatty deposits and tissues of the marine critters who ingest them. They often interfere with the animal's physiology and reproduction. The majority of plastics release chemicals such as BPA and pthalates which mimic the human sex hormone estrogen. These include baby bottles, sipper cups and water bottles.
Plastic bottles, single use plastic bags and other products are not the only source of plastics in our environment. Microbeads and nanoparticles used in products such as cosmetics and toothpaste enter the ocean through sewage outfalls. That's one reason I prefer ladies who don't use much makeup (but not ones that have numerous cavities in their teeth).
Most plastics do not biodegrade in the environment. They simply break down into the smaller pieces that enter marine food webs. People have devised ways to deal with plastic waste on land. Mandatory recycling is one. On Catalina Island our waste management folks separate out the recycleables from the waste stream and send them to the mainland. High temperature pyrolysis can convert non-recyclable plastics into diesel fuel. Cyrill Gutsch of Parley for the Oceans worked with Adidas to create sneakers manufactured from waste plastic.
However, in my opinion I'd much rather see us evolve backwards... back to the days of easily recycled glass containers. Back to packaging products that do not release toxins that could cause physiological damage or even cancer. Back to the 5¢ candy bar too! Back to an ocean free of plastic particles. If discarded improperly, glass eventually erodes into "sand." If dropped in the ocean, it falls to the sea floor... where a few years ago US Navy divers pulled many glass bottles on a 500 ft training dive off our island).
© 2017 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 700 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Plastic water bottles during our latest drought and I guess the trash can just wasn't close enough for someone; plastic debris on mainland waters and garibaldi confusing plastic for a tasty tidbit.
During my youth back in the 'burbs of Chicago I often earned my spending money by collecting glass bottles and redeeming them. The smaller soft drink bottles netted 2¢ while the larger ones returned a whopping 5¢. Of course this was back in the day when a candy bar could be had for that paltry sum. Today, on Catalina, we can't even get our deposit back, and even if we could a candy bar can be as much as $1.50!
I was a youngster in the 1950s when "the wonderful world of plastic" crept onto the scene. Personally I rue the day. Glass was far easier to recycle and provided a safe, toxin free container. Yes, it was heavier, resulting in higher shipping costs and breakage was greater back then. However, the world has sold its soul to the plastic gods.
63 billion gallons of petroleum are used each year in the U.S. just to produce plastic water bottles. In our country 38 billion water bottles are discarded or turned in for recycling each year. I was once addicted to Coke (not the white powder... unless you're talking sugar). It is estimated more than 100 billion plastic Coke bottles are produced per year. The average person throws away 300 pounds of single use plastic each year. Of course my readers are well above average so hopefully they discard far less than that.
Residents of the United States are not alone in this plastic waste. I've traveled to many less developed countries to dive and often found single use plastic water bottles the only safe source of drinking water for the population. Frequently one sees pits filled with these empty bottles (often along with coconut husks).
Far too much of this plastic waste enters the ocean. Here, due to ultraviolet light from the sun and wave action, it is often broken up into smaller pieces. It is estimated that there are five TRILLION pieces of plastic afloat in our oceans, creating what some call a "plastic smog." These fragments often attract man-made organic compounds which are toxic. These small pieces may be ingested by plankton and plankton feeders, and then work their way up through the food chain.
Marine mammals and turtles are frequently found dead due to single use plastic bags in their gut. Marine birds such as shearwaters and Laysan albatross are dying due to the heavy loads of plastics clogging their stomachs. Young birds fed this toxic and indigestible plastic die as well. Eventually the food chains end up with humans consuming the fish and marine invertebrates... along with the plastic and toxins.
The toxins ingested with the plastics concentrate in the fatty deposits and tissues of the marine critters who ingest them. They often interfere with the animal's physiology and reproduction. The majority of plastics release chemicals such as BPA and pthalates which mimic the human sex hormone estrogen. These include baby bottles, sipper cups and water bottles.
Plastic bottles, single use plastic bags and other products are not the only source of plastics in our environment. Microbeads and nanoparticles used in products such as cosmetics and toothpaste enter the ocean through sewage outfalls. That's one reason I prefer ladies who don't use much makeup (but not ones that have numerous cavities in their teeth).
Most plastics do not biodegrade in the environment. They simply break down into the smaller pieces that enter marine food webs. People have devised ways to deal with plastic waste on land. Mandatory recycling is one. On Catalina Island our waste management folks separate out the recycleables from the waste stream and send them to the mainland. High temperature pyrolysis can convert non-recyclable plastics into diesel fuel. Cyrill Gutsch of Parley for the Oceans worked with Adidas to create sneakers manufactured from waste plastic.
However, in my opinion I'd much rather see us evolve backwards... back to the days of easily recycled glass containers. Back to packaging products that do not release toxins that could cause physiological damage or even cancer. Back to the 5¢ candy bar too! Back to an ocean free of plastic particles. If discarded improperly, glass eventually erodes into "sand." If dropped in the ocean, it falls to the sea floor... where a few years ago US Navy divers pulled many glass bottles on a 500 ft training dive off our island).
© 2017 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 700 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Plastic water bottles during our latest drought and I guess the trash can just wasn't close enough for someone; plastic debris on mainland waters and garibaldi confusing plastic for a tasty tidbit.
