A new study indicates that the amount of plastic that does not decompose is huge, and in our country - the resignation of the Minister of Environmental Protection and the dissolution of the government may torpedo the project to switch to reusable baskets
The minister in charge of the Ministry of Environmental Protection resigned before finishing one of the most important tasks: banning the production, use and distribution of plastic bags in supermarkets and stores. In his place, Ofir Akunis, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office who coordinates between the government and the Knesset, was appointed in charge of the Ministry of Environmental Protection until after the elections. Upon taking office, Akunis announced that he would do everything necessary to deal with the oil criminals (my term) and everything necessary to restore the damaged area. An important announcement and action that we hope will be realized, but equally it is to be hoped that he will continue the important project of eradicating plastic bags,
In the meantime, more data is being published on the amounts of plastic that are thrown away and scattered in the natural environment, About the pollution that plastic creates in the oceans and about the "missing" plastic.
According to the article, published on December 10, "over five trillion pieces of plastic with a total weight of about 250,000 tons of plastic are floating in the oceans." On the face of it, this is an alarming estimate, but it is much lower than expected and amounts to one percent (1%) of global production. That's according to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife marine biologist Hank Carson.
A team of researchers modeled plastic debris using nets and counted the plastic seen in the five sub-equatorial currents, currents that "collect" the plastic. Beaches in Australia, the Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean were also examined.
To reach the results, the findings were combined with samples and findings from other studies, including a study by Environmental Science and Technology, where 2,500 samples were collected. According to the study, there are more than 20 tons of microplastics (plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters) floating in the Pacific Ocean. All the findings were entered into a model of "distribution of plastic in the oceans".
According to a study published in June in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), there are between 7,000 and 35,000 tons of plastic floating in the ocean. In other words, the new study greatly increases the estimate of the quantities, probably because the study refers to "pieces of plastic that can be seen with the eye", compared to the previous study that only referred to what the networks brought up, since it turns out that pieces that can be seen with the eye - larger than 200 millimeters, make up 75% of the total amount .
But it is known that large plastic parts such as bottles, floats and bags break down into microplastics. The question arises where is all the plastic? Some have suggested that the microplastic particles are so tiny that they are not caught in nets, others said that the same particles drift to beaches, sink to the bottom of the sea, are eaten by fish and accumulate in their tissues or are excreted in secretions and are eaten by bacteria without chemically breaking down.
Other researchers looked for plastic in remote places such as the arctic ice or the depths of the sea, others tested the secretions of sea lions and seals without significant results, meaning the missing plastic was not found. Not knowing where the missing plastic is "hiding" is at least as worrying as the known contamination.
Although some of the plastic in the sea comes from countries where there is no proper treatment of garbage, it turns out that rich countries produce most of the plastic that ends up in the sea. The day-to-day use of cups, mayonnaise or ketchup bags and other utensils that are used for half a minute and then thrown in the trash. Such use, which is common in "modern" countries, is one of the biggest and unnecessary sources of plastic pollution, with shopping bags being one of the most prominent sources. Therefore, it is again to be hoped that the project that was stopped will be realized and the use of plastic bags (large and small) will stop.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
A bacterium from the intestines of a worm to break down plastic
The microscopic plastic - a danger to beaches and life in the sea
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May Abgi return the money!
Was the missing plastic discovered?
It turns out that an analysis of sediments on the bottom of the oceans at a number of sites showed that:
Each square meter is saturated with 4 billion plastic particles:
In a study published in:
Royal Society Open Science
in which samples from the North Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean were tested,
Plastic particles were found in all the samples, while each spoon had four particles,
Artificial fibers (synthetics) and micro-plastics were also found in corals,
That is, if until today they were looking for the "missing plastic" it turns out that
It floods the bottom of the oceans and the coral reefs...