Microplastics in the ocean outnumber stars in our galaxy by 500 times

Ever wondered if you could be responsible for increasing the damage to the environment by simply buying and consuming your favourite aerated drink or a packaged water bottle on a hot summer day. Yes, you read it right. It all starts there! Your emptied bottle which is most certainly plastic will now add to the microplastic waste.  

What are microplastics?  
Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than 5 mm in length. Some microplastics have formed by breaking away from larger plastics that have fragmented over time – think debris from tyre wear. Others have been made small intentionally, for example, cosmetic microbeads used in facial scrubs.  

As plastics don’t degrade, it is almost impossible to remove them. They break up continually and pollute or we can say that over time, microplastics end up flooding into our environment. For example, the beverage that you bought to satiate your thirst used a plastic container and this container would now most possibly turn into smaller particles and invade a waterway.  

Now think of so many plastic things you use and throw every day in the garbage. These could include soft plastic items such as food wrappings, delivered publications, shopping bags or general packaging. Your food and drink containers, unused or old batteries, discarded cheap furniture and other items, old mobile phones and gadgets etc., etc.  

Then, many items have intentionally added microplastics such as cosmetics, detergents, paints, medicines, nappies, pesticides – the list goes on. 

Why are microplastics bad?  
According to a recent estimate, there are 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics in the world's upper oceans, with a combined weight of 82,000 to 578,000 tonnes. This is the equivalent of roughly 30 billion 500 ml plastic water bottles!  

Scientists have warned that the situation is increasingly going out of control. They have found microplastics pretty much everywhere, on mountains, in the ocean, in the Arctic sea ice, and in our air and drinking water. 

What is scary is that If ingested, microplastics can block the gastrointestinal tracts of organisms, or trick them into thinking that they don't need to eat, leading to starvation. Many toxic chemicals can also adhere to the surface of the plastic and, if ingested, contaminated microplastics could expose organisms to high concentrations of toxins.  

For example, microplastics in oceans end up in some animals’ stomach or in the marine food chain reducing food intake, delaying growth, causing oxidative damage and abnormal behaviour. 

But why are microplastics increasing at such a high rate?  
The rise of consumerism and population has been a large factor in waste production. Today, we buy as per trends, obsolescence and convenience. The invention of plastics, batteries, packaging and disposables has led to much more produce of short shelf life products. The result is that we generate so much waste each day that the situation has become alarming. 

What can we do? 
Let’s reduce our waste first - using less packaging and not wasting as much food, using our reusable containers and compositing. We can change this through circular economies and better lifestyles. Then we can look at reducing waste in manufacturing, purchasing and reuse of items.  

The responsibility lies with all of us. Looking at our lifestyle and encouraging businesses to develop products and services that reduce waste is the ultimate way to change.