Plastics in the World's Oceans and Food: No Longer an Invisible Killer
In recent years, heart-rending images of dead or dying sea mammals and fish, their stomachs stuffed with plastic, have shocked citizens around the globe. Reports indicate that the amount of plastic dumped into the world’s oceans has tripled over the past decade alone. And unlike oil spills, which can be remedied with extensive and costly clean-up efforts, there is no obvious solution to plastic “spills.”
Typically, the plastic is discarded on shore and then slowly makes its way into rivers and streams that feed the world’s largest bodies of water. Plastic is not biodegradable and because so much of it is translucent, it’s not easy to detect. Even sea creatures often cannot distinguish plastic from their favorite prey. In the end, tens of thousands of aquatic creatures – maybe more — die every year from consuming plastics of various kinds.
It’s not hard to figure out why plastics have come to pose such a threat. First, modern industry isrelying increasingly on plastics in consumer products like liquid containers, dishes, cups, straws and utensils. Other products formerly made of wood, glass or metal are being substituted with plastic. Plastic bags and plastic packaging are ubiquitous. Even many construction and other heavy-duty products – including piping, roofing, insulation and basic building blocks – have increasingly shifted to plastic.
Ironically, some of this transition stems from a desire to reduce reliance on paper products and to preserve trees. Moreover, plastic packaging prevents food contamination and can improve food safety. However, by switching to plastic, a new and dangerous environmental threat has emerged.
A look at the numbers is frightening. Roughly half of all plastics production – half! – has occurred since the new millennium. Moreover, during the past ten years about 60 percent of all the plastics produced either went to landfill or have been dumped in the natural environment. One source notes: “At current rates there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 by weight, much of it in the form of small particles, ingestible by wildlife and very difficult to remove.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/03/plastics-in-the-worlds-oceans-and-food-no-longer-an-invisible-killer/