Ocean Plastic Pollution

Words: 395

Pages: 2

Open Document

Ocean = trash bin ? plastic pollution is found all over the world.
Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
“composed of tiny plastic bits that linger unseen beneath the surface, ranging in size from a few square inches to barely visible specks.”
Most of the plastic do not mineralize in the ocean
“minerlization is the full degradation into carbon dioxide, water and inorganic molecules” most of plastic are derived from propylene, a simple chemical components of petroleum.
“when heated up in the presence of a catalyst, individual chemical units monomers of propylene link together by forming extremely strong carbon-carbon bonds with each other. This results in polymers long chains of monomers called polypropylene.” nature do not build polypropylene molecules …show more content…
The plastic debris are vehicles for introducing dangerous pollutant, include the PCBs, DDT and PAHs. These are “highly toxic and have a wide range of chronic effects, including endocrine disruption and cancer-causing mutations. When animals eat these plastic pieces, the toxins are absorbed into their body and passed up the food chain.” It could also passed down to our dinner plates. plastic molecule is “made by linking (polymerizing) literally thousands of chemical fragments called monomers that never complete, always leaving some monomers unattached and free to migrate out into whatever medium the plastic comes in contact. Some of the monomers are inherently toxic. some plastic have additive mix with desired properties into them. these additive can be toxic.
A study published in December in the journal Environmental Science & Technology addresses a third but external source of toxic substances associated with plastics, deriving from oily pollutants commonly found in seawater that glom onto the surface of plastic

Key Facts About Plastic Ocean Pollution

several key facts about plastic ocean pollution in deep degree based on the research group and the the possible consequences as a result of 'making plastic suop'. Author Carolyn states that even though ocean-borne plastic has a reputation for recycling as an indestructible , some plastics actually decompose rapidly in the ocean(Carolyn,2009) which simply means that ocean-born plastic pollution could not be cleaned and recycled completely. In addition, ocean as a 'plastic soup' has lots of negative…

Words 500 - Pages 2

Essay On Ocean Pollution

earth. When people dump trash into the water they think it only affects the ocean but they are wrong. Everybody is affected by it and many people are too sightless to realize what is happening. Thousands of mammals are dying because of people’s thoughtless actions. 100 million mammals die each year due to ocean pollution and our society is helping alot with that. This paper will clarify the history of ocean pollution, the effects it has on our world, and what is being done to solve this enormous…

Words 3092 - Pages 13

Essay on environmental science

167 bottles of water a year” (Gunzelmann). With all these bottles being used and thrown away, landfills are getting more and more overwhelmed with these plastic bottles. After researching The Water Project’s website they say that, “U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles alone” (The Water Project). If plastic bottles continue to be consumed and not recycled, we will be flooded in water bottles, and eventually may not know where to dispose because there may not…

Words 716 - Pages 3

Essay The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

air and water pollution really make a person think of just how much our planet is being harmed. A major concern is water pollution. Water covers at least 70 percent of the planet which makes our rivers, lakes, and oceans essential. Many of these bodies of water are being polluted and although they may be out of sight, they eventually help pollution increase. Actions should be made to stop the pollution of our waters before things get worse. If we want to decrease the amount of pollution it starts out…

Words 1619 - Pages 7

The Little Mermaid Water Pollution Essay

the ocean, I realize that it is almost time for my interview with Ariel, from The Little Mermaid. I dive into the ocean and glance down to see a mermaid with long, red hair. I rush over to introduce myself. After I notice that she seems to be in a rush, she invites me inside and I ask if she had time for a few questions on the topic of water pollution. Although the idea of getting rid of pollution seems to be simple, many still haven’t taken action to solve the problem. Most of the pollution comes…

Words 848 - Pages 4

Ocean Pollution Research Paper

stomachs full of plastic, beaches look like landfills, and there are giant masses of trash in our oceans larger than cities. The cause of this is humankind’s careless dumping of plastic and trash into the oceans for years, and it is starting to take a toll. If we do not act fast, we may reach a time when fish and plastic are equally abundant in the ocean. Pollution is the action of polluting, especially by environmental contamination with man-made waste. Humans are polluting our oceans with debris, waste…

Words 1378 - Pages 6

Why Do Oceans Contain More Plastic Than Fish

According to the article, “Oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050,” (CNBC) the production of plastics, be it for toys, water bottles, etc., has increased twentyfold since 1964. All of the waste resulting from the production of plastic is creating a negative externality of production (When the production of a good creates spill over costs for society as a whole born by the producer of that good). The plastic talked about in the article is a demerit good (a good or service that creates…

Words 685 - Pages 3

Paper 2 Comp 2

into the ocean every year. Not only is the water effected but the animals that love in the ocean are effected as well. Over one million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals are killed by pollution every year. In Daisy Dumas’ essay titled, “Landfill-on-Sea” she describes the trash build up in the Central Pacific Gyre. Lindsey Hoshaw also goes in on this subject in her article, “Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash” by touching on the reasons for the garbage patch in the ocean. Daisy…

Words 896 - Pages 4

Unit 8 Exploring Plastic Waste

Assignment Activity Unit 8 Exploring Plastic Waste Externalities and Policy Interventions: A Global Case Study Introduction Plastic is a synthetic material made up of polymers. Due to its lightness and strength, plastic is widely used in various substances around the globe. It takes a few hundred years for plastic to decay. When people waste these cheap plastic materials, most of them go to the sea. The consequences are not small, ranging from marine pollution to global climate change. In this assignment…

Words 842 - Pages 4

Human Environmental Impact

Human Activity and its Impact on the Oceans Although we have explored less than five percent of our vast oceans, humans have set them on a path to devastation long before we could discover the rest. Mark Prigg for dailymail.com warns by the end of the century, the oceans will have been damaged to an irreversible point. Without the oceans, the global climate cannot be regulated, where the world’s environmental state would then be far worse than what we have seen to be possible by, for example, global…

Words 1258 - Pages 6