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Research papers on Ocean plastic pollution

Recent and highly-cited academic work on ocean plastic pollution, gathered from Semantic Scholar, CrossRef and OpenAlex.

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  1. Plastic as a Persistent Marine Pollutant

    Boris Worm, Heike K. Lotze, Isabelle Jubinville, et al. · 2017 · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · 754 citations

    Synthetic organic polymers—or plastics—did not enter widespread use until the 1950s. By 2015, global production had increased to 322 million metric tons (Mt) year −1 , which approaches the total weight of the human population produced in plastic every year. Approximately half is used for packaging and other disposables, 40% of plastic waste is not accounted for in managed landfills or recycling facilities, and 4.8–12.7 Mt year −1 enter the ocean as macroscopic litter and microplastic particles. Here, we argue that such mismanaged plastic waste is similar to other persistent pollutants, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which once threatened a

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  2. Plastic Pollution and Potential Solutions

    Christopher J. Rhodes · 2018 · Science Progress · 665 citations

    A review is presented of the manufacture and use of different types of plastic, and the effects of pollution by these materials on animal, human and environmental health, insofar as this is known. Since 2004, the world has made as much plastic as it did in the previous half century, and it has been reckoned that the total mass of virgin plastics ever made amounts to 8.3 billion tonnes, mainly derived from natural gas and crude oil, used as chemical feedstocks and fuel sources. Between 1950 and 2015, a total of 6.3 billion tonnes of primary and secondary (recycled) plastic waste was generated, of which around 9% has been recycled, and 12% incinerated, with the remaining 79% either being store

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  3. Microbial Ecotoxicology of Marine Plastic Debris: A Review on Colonization and Biodegradation by the “Plastisphere”

    Justine Jacquin, Jingguang Cheng, Charlène Odobel, et al. · 2019 · Frontiers in Microbiology · 533 citations

    Over the last decades, it has become clear that plastic pollution presents a global societal and environmental challenge given its increasing presence in the oceans. A growing literature has focused on the microbial life growing on the surfaces of these pollutants called the "plastisphere," but the general concepts of microbial ecotoxicology have only rarely been integrated. Microbial ecotoxicology deals with (i) the impact of pollutants on microbial communities and inversely (ii) how much microbes can influence their biodegradation. The goal of this review is to enlighten the growing literature of the last 15 years on microbial ecotoxicology related to plastic pollution in the oceans. First

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  5. Reducing environmental plastic pollution by designing polymer materials for managed end-of-life

    Kara Lavender Law, Ramáni Narayan · 2021 · Nature Reviews Materials · 481 citations

    Plastics are a ubiquitous class of synthetic polymer materials used in virtually all commercial and industrial sectors. The majority of global plastics consists of polymers with carbon–carbon backbones, whose environmental persistence and low cost have resulted in a massive reservoir of plastic waste that resides in landfills and the environment. Although plastic debris contaminating the ocean has been documented for decades, details about plastic debris composition, distribution, impact and ultimate fate in the environment remain elusive. In this Review, we present an overview of environmental plastic contamination and discuss the origin (feedstock) and degradation behaviour of plastics to

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  6. Plastic pollution solutions: emerging technologies to prevent and collect marine plastic pollution

    Emma Schmaltz, Emily C. Melvin, Zoie Taylor Diana, et al. · 2020 · Environment International · 457 citations

    As plastic waste accumulates in the ocean at alarming rates, the need for efficient and sustainable remediation solutions is urgent. One solution is the development and mobilization of technologies that either 1)prevent plastics from entering waterways or2) collect marine and riverineplastic pollution. To date, however, few reports have focused on these technologies, and information on various technological developments is scattered. This leaves policymakers, innovators, and researchers without a central, comprehensive, and reliable source of information on the status of available technology to target this global problem. The goal of this study was to address this gap by creating a comprehen

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  7. The fundamental links between climate change and marine plastic pollution

    Helen V. Ford, Nia H. Jones, Andrew John Davies, et al. · 2021 · The Science of The Total Environment · 396 citations

    Plastic pollution and climate change have commonly been treated as two separate issues and sometimes are even seen as competing. Here we present an alternative view that these two issues are fundamentally linked. Primarily, we explore how plastic contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the beginning to the end of its life cycle. Secondly, we show that more extreme weather and floods associated with climate change, will exacerbate the spread of plastic in the natural environment. Finally, both issues occur throughout the marine environment, and we show that ecosystems and species can be particularly vulnerable to both, such as coral reefs that face disease spread through plastic po

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  8. Marine Environmental Plastic Pollution: Mitigation by Microorganism Degradation and Recycling Valorization

    Juliana Oliveira, Afonso Belchior, Verônica Diniz da Silva, et al. · 2020 · Frontiers in Marine Science · 240 citations

    Plastics are very useful materials and present numerous advantages in the daily life of individuals and society. However, plastics are accumulating in the environment and due to their low biodegradability rate, this problem will persist for centuries. Until recently, oceans were treated as places to dispose of litter, thus the persistent substances are causing serious pollution issues. Plastic and microplastic waste has a negative environmental, social, and economic impact, e.g., causing injury/death to marine organisms and entering the food chain, which leads to health problems. The development of solutions and methods to mitigate marine (micro)plastic pollution is in high demand. There is

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  12. A marine plastic cloud - Global mass balance assessment of oceanic plastic pollution

    Peter Townsend Harris, Thomas Maes, Karen Raubenheimer, et al. · 2023 · Continental Shelf Research · 92 citations

    To improve our understanding and management of marine plastic pollution of the ocean, a total plastic budget is needed which quantifies the sources and sinks, as well as inputs and removal of plastic per unit time. The current state of knowledge indicates that the coastal zone and ocean water column are major locations for plastic pollution, but the fate of much of this must ultimately be the deep ocean floor. We reviewed 23 journal articles that provide 280 observations of deep-sea sediment microplastic concentration across six different off-shelf environments. We calculate the following mean concentrations of microplastic particles (number) per kg of sediment: continental slope 502; submar

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  13. Marine Litter Windrows: A Strategic Target to Understand and Manage the Ocean Plastic Pollution

    A. Cózar, S. Aliani, O. C. Basurko, et al. · 2021 · 63 citations

    Windrow is a long-established term for the aggregations of seafoam, seaweeds, plankton and natural debris that appear on the ocean surface. Here, we define a “litter windrow” as any aggregation of floating litter at the submesoscale domain (<10 km horizontally), regardless of the force inducing the surface convergence, be it wind or other forces such as tides or density-driven currents. The marine litter windrows observed to date usually form stripes from tens up to thousands of meters long, with litter densities often exceeding 10 small items (<2 cm) per m2 or 1 large item (>2 cm) per 10 m2. Litter windrows are generally overlooked in research due to their dispersion, small size and ephemer

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  16. Plastic Pollution and Small Juvenile Marine Turtles: A Potential Evolutionary Trap

    E. Duncan, A. Broderick, K. Critchell, et al. · 2021 · 49 citations

    The ingestion of plastic by marine turtles is now reported for all species. Small juvenile turtles (including post-hatchling and oceanic juveniles) are thought to be most at risk, due to feeding preferences and overlap with areas of high plastic abundance. Their remote and dispersed life stage, however, results in limited access and assessments. Here, stranded and bycaught specimens from Queensland Australia, Pacific Ocean (PO; n = 65; 1993–2019) and Western Australia, Indian Ocean (IO; n = 56; 2015–2019) provide a unique opportunity to assess the extent of plastic (> 1mm) ingestion in five species [green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), oli

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  17. Plastic pollution of four understudied marine ecosystems: a review of mangroves, seagrass meadows, the Arctic Ocean and the deep seafloor

    B. Walther, M. Bergmann · 2022 · Emerging Topics in Life Sciences · 44 citations

    Plastic pollution is now a worldwide phenomenon affecting all marine ecosystems, but some ecosystems and regions remain understudied. Here, we review the presence and impacts of macroplastics and microplastics for four such ecosystems: mangroves, seagrass meadows, the Arctic Ocean and the deep seafloor. Plastic production has grown steadily, and thus the impact on species and ecosystems has increased, too. The accumulated evidence also indicates that plastic pollution is an additional and increasing stressor to these already ecosystems and many of the species living in them. However, laboratory or field studies, which provide strong correlational or experimental evidence of ecological harm d

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  20. Unleashing the Potential of IoT in Tackling Ocean Pollution: A Data-Driven Approach for Marine Ecosystem Conservation

    S. Srinivasan, T. Saravanan, J. Vimala Ithayan, et al. · 2023 · 2023 Second International Conference On Smart Technologies For Smart Nation (SmartTechCon) · 30 citations

    This study investigates the potentially revolutionary role that the Internet of Things (IoT) may play in combating the urgent ocean pollution problem and promoting the growth of ecologically sound marine ecosystems. An approach that is data-driven has become essential in light of the fact that pollution poses a risk to the delicate balance of marine life and puts the future of the seas in jeopardy. The user can get real-time data on water quality, pollutant levels, and plastic trash dispersion if the user installs sensors and devices that the IoT enables. This will allow us to gain a greater knowledge of the patterns and causes of pollution. Using the plethora of information at people’s disp

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  22. Legacy oceanic plastic pollution must be addressed to mitigate possible long-term ecological impacts

    Camille Richon, Karin Kvale, L. Lebreton, et al. · 2023 · Microplastics and Nanoplastics · 26 citations

    Scientific research over the past decade has demonstrated that plastic in our oceans has detrimental consequences for marine life at all trophic levels. As countries negotiate an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, the focus is on eliminating plastic emissions to the environment. Here, we argue that, while this endeavour is urgently needed to limit the negative impacts of plastic on ocean ecosystems, the reduction of the plastic flow to the environment should not be the sole purpose of the negotiations. Legacy oceanic plastic pollution is also a major concern that needs to be addressed in the coming Treaty. Plastic is ubiquitous and persistent in the environment, a

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  24. Implications of plastic pollution on global marine carbon cycling and climate.

    K. Kvale · 2022 · Emerging topics in life sciences · 20 citations

    Plastic pollution can both chemically and physically impede marine biota. But it can also provide novel substrates for colonization, and its leachate might stimulate phytoplankton growth. Plastic contains carbon, which is released into the environment upon breakdown. All of these mechanisms have been proposed to contribute global impacts on open ocean carbon cycling and climate from ubiquitous plastic pollution. Laboratory studies produce compelling data showing both stimulation and inhibition of primary producers and disruption of predatory lifecycles at individual scale, but global carbon cycle impacts remain mostly unquantified. Preliminary modelling estimates ecosystem alterations and di

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