Plastics as a Waste Material- in Marine Environment

The amount of plastic waste estimation annually introduced into the marine environment is not available. But, plastic waste is well known to result primarily from fishing-related activities, and from non-point source influx from beaches.

There are two clear differences between the fate of plastics debris in the ocean environment as opposed to on land environments.

a) The rate of UV-induced photo-oxidative degradation of plastics floating or submerged at sea is very much slower than that exposed to the same solar radiation on land.

b) Unlike on land there is no easy means of retrieval, sorting and recycling of plastic waste that enters into the ocean environment.

These two factors generally result in extended lifetimes for plastics at sea.

The plastic waste that has been introduced into the world’s oceans must accumulate for the most part intact and unmineralized in the marine environment. While the fate of such plastics is not clear, it is reasonable to expect at least some of it to continue disintegrating into microparticulate debris. Recent reports even indicate an increase in their counts over the last two decades.