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Microplastics
What Are Microplastics?
By Frederic Beaudry
Microplastics
are small fragments of plastic material, generally defined as smaller than what
can be seen by the naked eye.
Our
increased reliance on plastics for countless applications has negative
consequences to the environment.
For
example, the plastic manufacturing process is associated with air pollution,
and volatile organic compounds released over the life of the plastic have
deleterious health effects for humans.
Plastic
waste takes up significant space in landfills. However, microplastics in the
aquatic environment has been a newly emerging concern in the public
consciousness.
.
As the name implies, microplastics are very small, generally too small to see although some scientists include pieces up to 5mm in diameter (about a fifth of an inch).
.
As the name implies, microplastics are very small, generally too small to see although some scientists include pieces up to 5mm in diameter (about a fifth of an inch).
They are
of various types, including polyethylene (e.g., plastic bags, bottles),
polystyrene (e.g., food containers), nylon, or PVC.
These
plastic items become degraded by heat, UV light, oxidation, mechanical action,
and biodegradation by living organisms like bacteria.
These
processes yield increasingly small particles that eventually can be classified
as microplastics.
Microplastics
On the Beach
It
appears that the beach environment, with its abundant sunlight and very high
temperatures at ground level, is where the degradation processes operate
fastest.
On the
hot sand surface, plastic trash fades, becomes brittle, then cracks and breaks
down.
High
tides and wind pick up the tiny plastic particles and eventually add them to
the growing great garbage patches found in the oceans.
Since
beach pollution is a major contributor of microplastic pollution, beach cleanup
efforts turn out to be much more than esthetic exercises.
Environmental
Effects of Microplastics
Many
persistent organic pollutants (for example, pesticides, PCBs, DDT, and dioxins)
float around the oceans at low concentrations, but their hydrophobic nature
concentrates them on the surface of plastic particles.
Marine
animals mistakenly feed on the microplastics, and at the same time ingest the
toxic pollutants.
The
chemicals accumulate in the animal tissues and then increase in concentration
as the pollutants are transferred up the food chain.
As the
plastics degrade and become brittle, they leach out monomers like BPA which can
then be absorbed by marine life, with relatively little-known consequences.
Besides
the associated chemical loads, ingested plastic materials can be damaging for
marine organisms, as they can lead to digestive blockage or internal damage
from abrasion.
There is
still much research needed to properly evaluate this issue.
Being so
numerous, microplastics provide abundant surfaces for small organisms to
attach. This dramatic increase in colonization opportunities can have
population-level consequences.
In addition,
these plastics are essentially rafts for organisms to travel further than they
usually would, making them vectors for spreading invasive marine species.
Microbeads
A more
recent source of trash in the oceans is the tiny polyethylene spheres, or microbeads,
increasingly found in many consumer products.
These
microplastics do not come from the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic but
instead are engineered additives to cosmetics and personal care products.
They are
most often used in skin care products and toothpaste and wash down drains, pass
through water treatment plants, and end up in freshwater and marine
environments.
There is
increased pressure for countries and states to regulate microbead use, and many
large personal care product companies have pledged to find other alternatives.
Frederic Beaudry, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Science
Education
Ph.D., Wildlife Ecology, University of Maine
M.A., Natural Resources, Humboldt State
University
B.S., Biology, Université du Québec à
Rimouski
Introduction
Associate professor of environmental science,
Alfred University
Academic publication credits include
Biological Conservation and Journal of Applied Ecology
Experience
Frederic Beaudry, Ph.D., is a former writer
for ThoughtCo who contributed articles on pollution, global warming, and
climate science for three years. He is an associate professor of environmental
science at Alfred University in New York.
Prior to teaching, Dr. Beaudry worked as a
wildlife biologist, focusing on the ecology and conservation of birds and
turtles. He has authored several scientific papers on land use and conservation
and has conducted research examining land use changes and their effects on bird
and amphibian communities. Dr. Beaudry's work can be found in peer-reviewed
journals such as Biological Conservation, Journal of Applied Ecology, and the
Journal of Wildlife Management.
Education
Dr. Beaudry has a B.S. in biology from
Université du Québec à Rimouski and an M.A. in natural resources from Humboldt
State University. He earned a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology at the University of
Maine. He also completed postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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