We usually summarize the types of marine garbage like this: Marine garbage mainly includes freight garbage and kitchen garbage discharged by commercial ships, fishing nets and fishing boxes discarded by fishing boats, daily life garbage, industrial production garbage, and agricultural pollutants. , medical waste and sewage that is continuously discharged into the sea. This definition is too macroscopic. If we had the ability to conduct a thorough "big inventory" of the "garbage inventory" in the ocean like a supermarket inventory, the "variety and dizzying variety" of ocean garbage would definitely surprise people!
Heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, copper, lead, etc. contained in sewage discharged from petrochemical, metallurgical, and pharmaceutical factories; sulfur dioxide discharged in large quantities from coal-fired thermal power plants; every year through various Up to 6 million tons of petroleum and petroleum products enter the ocean; pesticides containing heavy metals such as mercury and copper, organophosphorus pesticides, and organochlorine pesticides.
Plastic and polystyrene plastic (resin) particles, plastic raw materials; plastic packaging rings and coils; food packaging bags, plastic bottles, plastic bags and other compression-packaged household items; disposable tableware; commercial and industrial magnetic sheets; medical waste such as syringes, dressings, and surgical gloves; food containers; hazardous waste in the form of canned oil or other liquids; pens, combs, shoe soles; plastic toys; fishing nets, mosquito nets, fishing lines; ropes, strapping Belts; glow sticks; safety helmets; plastic furniture; explosive cartridges, drill plugs, detonators; buoys; styrofoam.
Rubber gloves; balloons; rain boots; condoms; tires.
Wood products: construction wood; breeding cages; containers; cork; brushes; furniture.
Metal aluminum or tin beverage cans; bicycles; razors; cans; needles, knives; home appliances; auto parts; barbed wire; aerosol cans; paint cans; metal packaging barrels; metal Plates; iron chains; firearms and ammunition; metal industrial scrap.
Paper products: bags; cigarette boxes, cigarette butts; cartons, paper cups; cardboard boxes and cardboard parts; newspapers and magazines; tissues.
Textiles and leather clothing, gloves, shoes; cloth; rags; cotton rope; decorative fabrics; bandages and cotton swabs; sanitary napkins, sanitary napkins, diapers.
Glass and ceramics broken glass; food and beverage bottles and jars; medicine bottles; light bulbs, lamp tubes; flower pots and vases.
It is these seemingly ordinary domestic and industrial wastes that have become the main source of marine garbage. With the movement of wind and ocean currents, these marine debris can drift with the waves, "leaving mercy everywhere".
How many: sea to bottom, Antarctic to Arctic
Everything we consume has the potential to end up in the sea. Some of these marine debris stay on the beach, and some float on the sea surface or sink to the bottom of the sea. Much of the trash on beaches is carried out to sea by wind and waves. In shallow seas, marine debris continuously moves horizontally or vertically with the current, drifting or floating up and down everywhere.
According to statistics, plastic and polystyrene products account for 90% of floating garbage in the ocean. Deep under the sea, marine debris is also everywhere. Taking the North Sea in the Atlantic Ocean as an example, it is estimated that there are approximately 110 pieces of marine debris per square kilometer of seabed. Based on this calculation, there is a volume of 600,000 cubic meters of marine debris on the seabed of the North Sea. Another survey of the Mediterranean Sea showed that there are about 300 million pieces of marine debris at a depth of 2,500 meters in the sea between France and Corsica.
Driven by wind and waves, marine debris is constantly moving and is everywhere. Take Henderson Island as an example. This is the largest island among the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific and one of the most remote islands in the South Pacific. It is included in the "World Heritage List" because it preserves the best atoll ecosystem in the world. Heritage Inventory. However, it was on this geographically remote island that a surprising amount of garbage was found, which was brought by ocean currents. On Dixie Island, an uninhabited island belonging to the Pitcairn Islands, American scientists visited in 1991 and found more than 950 pieces of garbage on the 2.4-kilometer-long beach on the island, including plastic pipes, ropes, and shoes. , fluorescent tubes, light bulbs, aerosol cans, gasoline cans, lighters, truck tires, hard drives, hats, plastic hangers, toy soldiers, toy airplanes, footballs, car carpets, asthma inhalers, and packaging jars and glass bottles from 15 countries wait.
Another study shows that there are an average of 3,500 tiny plastic particles floating on every square kilometer of the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean.
As early as 1997, Chilean scientists conducted a survey on Livingston Island in Antarctica and found 1,600 pieces of garbage in 36 survey areas, most of which were plastic foam products, and the rest were many. Straps, ropes and broken fishing nets for fishing. Environment Canada's aerial surveys along the Arctic Beaufort Sea found that in addition to large quantities of plastic foam products, oil and gas exploration activities are producing an increasing amount of marine debris.
At the same time, more and more countries are troubled by the problem of marine debris. More than 50 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, and Denmark, have reported the problem of marine debris to relevant international organizations.
From the sea surface to the bottom of the sea, from north to south, from west to east, marine garbage is everywhere.
Where to go: the "executioner" of marine life
Where have all the marine garbage gone? It's not all what it seems - marine debris accumulates on beaches, floats on the surface or settles on the ocean floor. In fact, most of the marine debris is digested by marine organisms and eventually absorbed by humans. It can be said that marine garbage is the "executioner" of marine life and the "invisible killer" of human health.
Heavy metal waste is one of the biggest threats. Heavy metal chemicals contained in garbage have caused great pollution to the ocean. In addition to directly causing harm to marine life, they can also pass through biological enrichment and the food chain, and enter the human body through seafood and cause harm. The world-famous "Minamata disease" is caused by mercury pollution. At the same time, excessive discharge of organic substances such as urban domestic sewage, food industry wastewater and residues, human and animal feces, and industrial waste into the ocean will also cause organic pollution, which can cause marine life to suffocate and die, and some sea areas may even turn into "Dead Seas."
"White pollution" has also caused great harm to marine life and humans. Waste plastic can linger in marine ecosystems for decades or more. Plastic garbage poses a serious threat to navigation safety. It can get entangled in the propellers of ships. In particular, various plastic bottles known as "magic bottles" can ruthlessly damage ship hulls and machines, causing accidents and suspension of operations. What’s even more frightening is that plastic waste has a fatal impact on the health of marine ecosystems. Marine creatures can easily mistake some plastic products for food and swallow them. Sea turtles especially like to eat plastic bags that look like jellyfish; seabirds prefer old lighters and toothbrushes because they look like small fish, but when they want to spit them out When the young birds come out to nurse, the weak young birds are often choked to death. Plastic products cannot be digested and decomposed in animals. If eaten by mistake, they can cause stomach discomfort, abnormal movement, reduced fertility and even death.
The largest plastic waste in the ocean is abandoned fishing nets, some of which are several kilometers long and are called "ghost nets" by fishermen. Under the action of ocean currents, these fishing nets are twisted together and become "death traps" for marine mammals. They entangle and drown thousands of seals, sea lions, dolphins and other marine life every year.