A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required.
As global awareness, science, and policy interventions for plastic escalate, institutions around the world are seeking preventative strategies. Central to this is the need for precise global time series of plastic pollution with which we can assess whether implemented policies are effective, but at...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281596 |
| _version_ | 1827963377425580032 |
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| author | Marcus Eriksen Win Cowger Lisa M Erdle Scott Coffin Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez Charles J Moore Edward J Carpenter Robert H Day Martin Thiel Chris Wilcox |
| author_facet | Marcus Eriksen Win Cowger Lisa M Erdle Scott Coffin Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez Charles J Moore Edward J Carpenter Robert H Day Martin Thiel Chris Wilcox |
| author_sort | Marcus Eriksen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As global awareness, science, and policy interventions for plastic escalate, institutions around the world are seeking preventative strategies. Central to this is the need for precise global time series of plastic pollution with which we can assess whether implemented policies are effective, but at present we lack these data. To address this need, we used previously published and new data on floating ocean plastics (n = 11,777 stations) to create a global time-series that estimates the average counts and mass of small plastics in the ocean surface layer from 1979 to 2019. Today's global abundance is estimated at approximately 82-358 trillion plastic particles weighing 1.1-4.9 million tonnes. We observed no clear detectable trend until 1990, a fluctuating but stagnant trend from then until 2005, and a rapid increase until the present. This observed acceleration of plastic densities in the world's oceans, also reported for beaches around the globe, demands urgent international policy interventions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:56:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e6435183a784ef5a7f80e70ee7b3997 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:56:59Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e6435183a784ef5a7f80e70ee7b39972023-04-21T05:35:02ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01183e028159610.1371/journal.pone.0281596A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required.Marcus EriksenWin CowgerLisa M ErdleScott CoffinPatricia Villarrubia-GómezCharles J MooreEdward J CarpenterRobert H DayMartin ThielChris WilcoxAs global awareness, science, and policy interventions for plastic escalate, institutions around the world are seeking preventative strategies. Central to this is the need for precise global time series of plastic pollution with which we can assess whether implemented policies are effective, but at present we lack these data. To address this need, we used previously published and new data on floating ocean plastics (n = 11,777 stations) to create a global time-series that estimates the average counts and mass of small plastics in the ocean surface layer from 1979 to 2019. Today's global abundance is estimated at approximately 82-358 trillion plastic particles weighing 1.1-4.9 million tonnes. We observed no clear detectable trend until 1990, a fluctuating but stagnant trend from then until 2005, and a rapid increase until the present. This observed acceleration of plastic densities in the world's oceans, also reported for beaches around the globe, demands urgent international policy interventions.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281596 |
| spellingShingle | Marcus Eriksen Win Cowger Lisa M Erdle Scott Coffin Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez Charles J Moore Edward J Carpenter Robert H Day Martin Thiel Chris Wilcox A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required. PLoS ONE |
| title | A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required. |
| title_full | A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required. |
| title_fullStr | A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required. |
| title_full_unstemmed | A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required. |
| title_short | A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world's oceans-Urgent solutions required. |
| title_sort | growing plastic smog now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world s oceans urgent solutions required |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281596 |
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