Polluting Plastic Particles Invade the Great Lakes

“The massive production of plastic and inadequate disposal has made plastic debris an important and constant pollutant on beaches and in oceans around the world, and the Great Lakes are not an exception,” said Lorena M. Rios Mendoza, Ph.D., who spoke on the topic at the meeting. It continues here through Thursday, with 12,000 presentations on new advances in science and other topics.

Fish and birds could be harmed from accidentally eating the plastic particles, or absorbing substances that leach out into the water, Rios said. Her team knows from analyses of fish stomachs that fish are consuming the plastic particles. Fish also could pass such substances to consumers, but Rios said research on that topic is just beginning.

Much of the plastic pollution in the oceans and Great Lakes goes unnoticed by the casual observer because it is so small. In the samples Rios’ team collected in Lake Erie, 85 percent of the particles were smaller than two-tenths of an inch, and much of that was microscopic. Her group found between 1,500 and 1.7 million of these particles per square mile.

Fish, however, often mistake these bits of plastic for food. “The main problem with these plastic sizes is its accessibility to freshwater organisms that can be easily confused as natural food and the total surface area for adsorption of toxins and pseudo-estrogens increases significantly,” Rios said. It is not yet understood whether these toxins enter the food chain in harmful amounts.

Rios also pointed out that the problem of ocean plastics is quickly growing. Plastic production has increased 500 percent since 1980, and plastics now account for 80 to 90 percent of ocean pollution, according to Rios. Some of this comes from plastic bags, bottles and other trash, or from fishing lines. Another source is household products like abrasive facial cleaners or synthetic fibers shed by clothes in the washing machine. The researchers also found large numbers of plastic pellets, which are shipped around the world to be melted down and molded into everything from plastic milk jugs to parts for cars.

The plastic pollution problem may be even worse in the Great Lakes than in the oceans, Rios said. Her team found that the number of microparticles — which are more harmful to marine life because of their small size — was 24 percent higher in the Great Lakes than in samples they collected in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. With a volume equal to 1.65 million Olympic swimming pools, the Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world, and this is the first time that scientists have looked there for plastics.

The problem of plastic pollution in the oceans, however, has been widely known since at least 1988, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration first described the so-called “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” an area in the North Pacific Ocean where currents have concentrated plastics and other pollution. The patch varies in dimensions, but estimates indicate that at times it has been twice the size of the state of Texas.

The authors acknowledge funding from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

CONTACT:
Lorena M. Rios Mendoza, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin-Superior
Superior, Wisc. 54880
Phone: 715-394-8205
Email: lriosmen@uwsuper.edu
Abstract
The presence of hydrophobic organic pollutants is an environmental issue because of their toxicity and persistence in the same way that plastic debris is a constant pollutant on beaches and water bodies around the planet. The production of cheap plastic items is massive. The incidence and accumulation of microplastics create significant risks to the ocean and now in the Great Lakes environment because of the known potential of these microplastics to adsorb persistent organic pollutants that can harm aquatic organisms. This is the first study that provides a basic assessment of the pollution caused by plastic debris in the Great Lakes waters. The results presented are from 4 of 22 samples collected from July 12 to July 29, 2012 on the Great Lakes as well as 13 samples collected on the South Atlantic Ocean. The plastic debris collected was classified by color, size, and chemical composition of the synthetic polymer.
Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10)
202-872-6042
Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10)
202-872-6293

Media Contact

Michael Bernstein Newswise

More Information:

http://www.acs.org

All latest news from the category: Ecology, The Environment and Conservation

This complex theme deals primarily with interactions between organisms and the environmental factors that impact them, but to a greater extent between individual inanimate environmental factors.

innovations-report offers informative reports and articles on topics such as climate protection, landscape conservation, ecological systems, wildlife and nature parks and ecosystem efficiency and balance.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors