Plastic turns into a problem as soon as its disposal is improper and it enters a highly dynamic environment such as the sea
A baby’s diaper spotted by the author in a coral reef off the Maharashtra coast. Photo: Aditya Kakodkar/WWF-India My team is in Southern Maharashtra, at one of the remote SCUBA dive locations on a mission to assess the health of the coral reef. As the dive starts and I slowly descend through the water column, visibility improves, and I see some coral. I am eager to see fish, colourful nudibranchs, or at least a shoal of barracudas, which I know are usually seen there. But, alas, I am greeted by the ghastly sight of a discarded infant diaper tangled into a coral. It is a shocking sight for a marine biologist. How can something out of place be found in a pristine habitat around 10 km from the shoreline? It seems to be there for some time and is happily waving around in the current.
Plastics have now managed to sneak in everywhere. The bottom of the sea is not a new place for them. If not removed, this diaper will stay in the reef for another 500 years; meanwhile, it will keep disintegrating into smaller fragments, popularly known as microplastics. As I write this on Earth Day 2024, I realise the importance of this year’s theme, “Planet vs. Plastics”, i.e., the demand to reduce the production of all plastics by 60 per cent by the year 2040.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, around 14 million tons of plastics enter the marine ecosystem every year, forming around 80 per cent of the all-marine debris. Fishes and other marine animals ingest plastics, especially microplastics, which cause irreversible damage to their organ systems. Some of the endangered species of turtles and marine mammals, including large fishes such as whale sharks, are routinely seen entangled in discarded fishing nets and perish on a large scale.
Humans also ingest large quantities of microplastics by consuming fish and sea salt. Increasingly, microplastics are being considered a major contributor to human gastro-intestine-related ailments.
A sea urchin trapped in plastic. Photo: Sumer Rao/WWF-India
On the economic front, unmanaged plastic waste in coastal areas reduces the aesthetic appeal of tourism destinations and causes loss to the tourism sector. Major efforts in plastic management are underway to address this issue in many coastal areas around the world.
Management of marine plastic is an entirely different ball game, as this waste is one of the most arduous areas of pollution to handle, mostly due to the sheer scale of the logistics required to identify and retrieve it. Salt interferes with the plastic recycling processes, so plastic retrieved from the seawater has little to no recyclability. More resources are required to process marine plastics than plastics on dry land. Owing to the difficulty in retrieving underwater plastics, it is much more practical to direct our efforts towards stopping plastics from entering the marine environment. For instance, a discarded fishing net will keep passively fishing and releasing microplastics for years after it is lost. In conclusion, managing the discarded plastic nets on shore and recycling them before they end up in the water is better.
As environmentally conscious citizens, some simple solutions could help us work wonders to stop plastics from entering our seas. We need to segregate our household waste diligently. Mixed waste, i.e. combination of dry and wet waste, is tedious to handle. Plastic soiled with food scraps needs to be cleaned before recycling; hence, it is often left out of the recycling process. So, make sure that the food packaging is clean before discarding. Single-use plastics should be avoided at all costs, and environment-friendly options should be considered. Repairing and reusing plastic items is the best way to increase their longevity, thus reducing the manufacture of new plastics. On a personal level, carrying your own water bottle or metal straw or requesting restaurants not to send cutlery could go a long way in reducing your plastic-use footprint.
Plastic has repeatedly proven its versatility and has some significant uses in improving the quality of our lives. Still, it turns into a problem as soon as its disposal is improper and it enters a highly dynamic environment such as the sea. Plastic in the marine environment enters our food and our bodies. They kill a large number of marine wildlife and disrupt ecologically important habitats. Marine plastics are a substantial threat to the environment, and addressing the issue of marine plastics is necessary to achieve marine biodiversity conservation or to preserve indigenous communities’ livelihoods. Hence, Earth Day 2024 is rightly themed to indicate the conflict between our blue planet and the monster of plastic waste we have created. It is high time for us to be mindful of this issue and work toward helping our planet win.
Aditya Kakodkar is Senior Coordinator, Marine Conservation, WWF India - Goa Office
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
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