The concentration of plastic in the oceans has experienced a “unprecedented increase” from 2005 until reaching an approximate current level of more than 2 million tons, according to a study published this Wednesday in the academic journal PLOS ONE.
“Starting in 2005, there was a rapid and consistent increase in the abundance of plastic. Based on our modeling, we estimate that in 2019 there were floating (in the ocean) between 82 and 358 trillion particles (171 billion on average) weighing between 1.1 and 4.9 million tons (2.3 million on average),” the study says.
The researchers, including scientists from the United States, Sweden, Chile and Australiaanalyzed global data on the concentration of plastics on the surface of the seas covering from 1979 to 2019.
They observed that, from 1990 to 2005, the amounts of plastic varied without detecting a clear trendsomething that could be due “to important policies that were implemented during that period”, such as the prohibition of unloading plastics from ships included in the International Convention to Prevent Pollution from Ships (Marpol).
As of 2006however, as world production grew and macroplastics already floating on the ocean surface began to break down into microplasticsthe concentration of this type of compound increased considerably.
the researchers acknowledge the limitations of collecting data on a global scale, but defend that their findings are in line with trends recorded on the beaches, where data is collected independently.
“The parallels strongly suggest that plastic pollution in the world’s oceans over the past fifteen years has reached unprecedented levels,” they conclude, and ask politicians around the world to agree to pass standards with specific objectives and that are not limited to the business field.
They also warn that without urgent and forceful measures to limit the amount of plastic that ends up in the waterthe rate at which this material ends up in the oceans could almost triple by 2040.
