Listen to this PodcastMore 60-Second Earth
Swirls of trashed plastic litter the seven seas. But it's not the enormous plastic patches that pose the biggest pollution problem. Instead it's bits of plastic less than one millimeter in size.
Such microplastic litters shorelines like grains of sand, floats in the open ocean and even sinks down to the deep sea. And sampling the microplastic on shorelines reveals that most of it comes from sewage. That’s according to an analysis in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. [Mark Anthony Browne et al., "Accumulation of Microplastic on Shorelines Woldwide: Sources and Sinks"]
But how did the microplastic get in the sewage in the first place? Most of the particles were plastics commonly used in clothes—polyester and acrylic. Similar levels of such particles were found in the discharge from nearby sewage treatment plants. And that means most of the microplastics were coming from our washing machines.
Fleece is the worst shedder. But various plastic-based garments can lose more than 1,900 fibers per wash. The solution may be to add better filters, either to washing machines or to the sewage treatment plants that deal with all the wash water.
Otherwise, all that plastic ends up stored in cells of sea life. And that's not very clean.
—David Biello
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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8 Comments
Add CommentPossible solution: Rather than discharging the water from waste treatment plants directly into the ocean, how about using evaporation ponds? Nature does the best filtering, through evaporation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt would take huge,I mean huge, amounts of land for evaporation ponds large enough to handle the amount of wastewater involved. Even then it wouldn't work in many countries with lots of precipitation. ( I spent 20 years in water pollution control. Control at the source is easiest.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOk, I see what you're saying. Maybe in some places it could work, but clearly in highly populated areas or places without enough sun exposure there wouldn't be enough room for large evaporation ponds. Unfortunately, the alternative of requiring microfilters on washing machines doesn't sound feasible to me either. For one thing, they would clog and have to be replaced periodically - and it would surely add to the cost of a machine. I wonder what it would take to retrofit wastewater treatment plants sufficiently to be able to filter out such small plastic particles? I'm sure it's possible, but would it be feasible?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOther than the very vague: "And that's not very clean" last statement, exactly what damage does this purport to do? How much should we be concerned and why?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswell, now that it can be stored in cells of sea life, since human is on the top of food chain, those plastic can be finally accumulated in our body.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo one possible solution, how about inventing a new kind of plastic which is easy to decompose?
Humans are pigs. Get used to it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBoth sentences in the last paragraph are frustratingly vague. What does 'all that plastic ends up stored in cells of sea life' mean (ALL of it?), what's the evidence, and what are the implications? Looks to me like there's another whole story here.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with tex and othinny. AND ..These 60 second things are more frustration than they are worth for me. Why not at least have links with more info for those interested just like the magazine.
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