There is Way More Microplastic in the Ocean Than We Thought

If you thought it was bad, think again. It’s really bad. If you want a measurement of just how bad, it’s about one million times worse than we thought.

A new study led by biological oceanographer Jennifer Brandon at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego provides new data on just how much microplastics are in the ocean. Again, restating myself for necessary emphasis, It’s a lot.

The study showed that microplastics are a million times more abundant in our oceans than what previous data reported. They found that “the quantity is one million times more numerically, but when you multiply the quantity times volume, the volume of larger pieces is still much higher,” which is five to seven times greater than what scientists previously believed. After looking at the results of her research, Brandon estimates that the ocean has 8.3 million pieces of mini-microplastics per cubic meter of water - while previous studies were only showing 10 pieces per cubic meter.

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The concentration of microplastics found in previous studies all shared the same slightly flawed research method that inspired Brandon and her team to try things differently. “For years we’ve being doing microplastics studies the same way – by using a net to collect samples,” Brandon said, “but anything smaller than that net mesh has been escaping.”

A 2016 review of studies on micro-plastics noted that between 1971 and 2013, the nets that were used only captured microplastics that were as small as 333 micrometers (one third of a millimeter) in diameter. This posed a few questions: What about finding microplastics that were smaller than that? How on earth would you do it?

If Brandon and her team were going to collect super mini microplastic samples, (as small as 10 micrometers in diameter, smaller than the width of a single human hair) they would need a method that would go beyond using a super fine net.

“I saw these published size ranges and thought, we are under-sampling this smaller range. There’s a big knowledge gap,” Brandon said. Her study took seawater samples from different depths and areas of the ocean, and studied the stomachs of salps, which are jelly-like invertebrates that suck in water to travel up the water column and for feeding. About 100 salps were surveyed from water samples collected in 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017, 100% of which had microplastic laden guts.

These creatures are low on the food chain, but the plastic in their stomachs could travel up the food chain to creatures that feed on them, like sea turtles, rock fish and king crab. “No one eats salps but it’s not far away on the food chain from the things you do eat,” Brandon said.

Even though scientists don’t know how plastic could affect human health, some are concerned that the microplastics could get to be small enough to enter our bloodstreams. Chemically, plastic is so strong that neither water or soil can break it down.

If you’re reading this and feeling an overwhelmingly paralytic sense of doomsday helplessness, don’t worry, you’re not alone. While these findings are shocking, there are things you can do to make a change.

Here are some tips on how to reduce your plastic consumption:

1.Wear natural clothes! When our clothing gets washed, it strips away tiny synthetic that ultimately end up in our water. Choose clothes that are made of cotton, wool, hemp or silk.

2.Limit plastic consumption: buy produce that isn’t contained in plastic (bring glass containers and head to the bulk aisle), invest in a reusable water bottle and bring your own bag! Don’t use the ability to recycle as an excuse to buy all the plastic (90% of most of it isn’t recycled!)

3.When you do recycle, make sure you’re doing it properly, especially with the holiday season coming up.