Scientists warn of 'alarming' rise in ocean microplastic pollution

Global data on ocean surface level pollution suggests there are now 2.3 million tonnes of microplastic pollution floating in the world’s seas, with concentrations surging since 2005

A handful of plastic washed ashore at Kamilo Beach, Hawaii

The 5 Gyres Institute, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons​.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Concentrations of microplastics in the oceans have surged in the past 18 years, with researchers now estimating there are 2.3 million tonnes floating in the sea worldwide.

Microplastics – defined as plastic particles less than 5 millimetres long – are commonly found in the bodies of sea turtles, whales and fish. Studies have tracked microplastic pollution in oceans since the 1970s, but it wasn’t until 2005 that plastic concentrations started to rapidly and consistently increase.

Marcus Eriksen and Lisa Erdle at the the 5 Gyres Institute in Santa Monica, California, and their colleagues looked at data on plastic pollution at the ocean surface that had been collected between 1979 and 2019. That data came from more than 11,000 collection stations covering most major ocean regions.lear trend.