The Problem of Marine Plastic Pollution (Plastic controle )

Most marine debris (80%) comes from trash and debris in urban runoff, i.e. land-based sources. Key components of land-based sources include litter, trash and debris from construction, ports and marinas, commercial and industrial facilities, and trash blown out of garbage containers, trucks, and landfills.1 Ocean-based sources, such as, overboard discharges from ships and discarded fishing gear, account for the other 20%.

Food containers and packaging are the largest component of the municipal solid waste stream (80 million tons or 31.7 %).2 These items, together with plastic bags, also represent the largest component of marine debris (that is, barring items less than 5mm such as pre-production plastic pellets, fragments, and polystyrene pieces).3 Packaging and single use disposable products are not only ubiquitous in marine debris, they represent an unsustainable use of precious resources (oil, trees, energy sources, water).

Citations

California Coastal Commission, "A Plan of Action for Reducing Land-Based Discharges of Marine Debris, from the Plastic Debris Project," 2005, p. 14.
U.S. EPA, Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2006, p. 6 (pdf).
OPC, p. 10.
Charles Moore, Algalita Marine Research Foundation, presentation at California District Attorney's Association, Sept. 2006.
H. Ogi, Y. Fukimoto, "A Sorting Method for Small Plastic Debris Floating on the Sea Surface and Stranded on Sandy Beaches," Bullein of the Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University 5 (2), 2000, 71-93.
S. Copello, F. Quintara, "Marine Debris Ingestion by Southern Giant Petrels and its Potential Relationships with Fisheries in the Southern Ocean," Marine Debris Bulletin, 46 (2003): 1513-1515.
D.W. Laist, "Impacts of marine debris: entanglement of marine life in marine debris including a comprehensive list of species with entanglement and ingestion records," in Coe, J.M. Rogers, D.B. (eds), Marine Debris: Sources, Impacts, and Solutions: Springer-Verlag, New York, (1997) 99-139.
Hannah Nevins et al, "Seabirds as indicators of plastic pollution in the North Pacific," presented at the Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea Conference, Sept. 8, 2005, Redondo Beach, California. Plastic Debris Project.
H.J. Auman, J.P. Ludwig, J.P. Giesy, T. Colborn, "Plastic ingestion by Laysan Albatross Chicks on Sand Island, Midway Atoll, in 1994 and 1995," Albatross Biology and Conservation, 239-244, 1997.
Y. Mato et al, "Toxic Chemicals Contained in plastic resin pellets in the marine environment- spatial difference in pollutant concentrations and the effects of resin type," Kanyo Kagakukaishi 15 (2002): 425-423; Charles Moore, Gwen Lattin, Ann Zellers, "A Brief Analysis of Organic Pollutants Sorbed to Pre- and post- Production Plastic Particles from the Los Angeles and San Gabriel River Watersheds," presented at the Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea Conference, September 2005, Redondo Beach, CA. Plastic Debris Project.
David Barnes, "Biodiversity: Invasions by Marine Life on Plastic Debris," Nature, 6883 (April 25, 2002): 808-809.