If a plastic bottle cap is thrown on the ground in Squamish rather than in the waste bin, what happens to it?
During the next big rainstorm, that bottle cap is likely to be washed into the nearest creek, from where it will likely make its way into a river, then out through Howe Sound into the ocean. The action of wind and waves may deposit it back on a beach nearby.
Plastic does not disappear once it floats out to sea. Ocean currents accumulate plastic in the middle of the oceans, forming a "plastic soup" that extends from the surface down through the water column. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to be at least 700,000 square kilometres in size.
Plastic is a remarkable substance, synthesised from carbon and hydrogen building blocks that are extracted from organic substances such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and crude oil. Depending on the molecular composition of the plastic, it can take on different characteristics - hard, soft, collared, transparent, insulating or conducting. Plastic is used in almost every aspect of our lives from construction to clothing, medical items, electronics and food packaging. One of the most impressive qualities of plastic - and its curse - is its durability.
Most things produced in the natural world are biodegradable - they are able to be broken down into organic material and returned to the soil, helped along by micro-organisms, fungi, wind, rain and the sun. Unfortunately, there is no such cycle available for plastics. That bottle cap from Squamish may break into smaller pieces under exposure from the sun, but it will take a long time to disappear. Capt. Charles Moore, who has taken numerous boats to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on study expeditions, explained this phenomenon as "only humans make waste that nature can't digest."
It is not surprising that researchers have found that plastic in the ocean is affecting marine life. Animals and birds can become entrapped by larger pieces of floating plastic and die. The smaller pieces of plastic are often mistaken for food. An animal with a belly full of plastic can die of starvation as it feels full and stops eating without eating any real food.
Research is also ongoing into the effect that the plastic pieces have on the accumulation of toxins. Harmful organic chemicals known as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) may bind to plastic pieces and enter the food chain when they are eaten by marine life. It is not yet known whether this poses a threat to species that we humans consume.
The accumulation of plastic in our oceans is an important issue, and one that will not go away. The good news is that by changing our behaviour we can make a different to the amount of trash produced and where it ends up. The key words are reduce, reuse and recycle - reduce the amount of plastic you use, reuse whatever you can and recycle plastic products that have reached the end of their life.
