One of the most distressing thing for me has been the occasional photos/videos I get to see of the massive "plastic islands" in our oceans these days. Not only are these an eyesore, they are a sparingly seen reminder of of our way of life, creating this huge amount of garbage, which ultimately finds itself in our oceans.

But if you thought that other parts of the ocean, which looks pristine and untouched was free of the scourge of our garbage, think again! In a report published recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has revealed that they are in fact polluted too and that tiny invisible plastic particles, or microplastics, are in fact a bigger source of marine plastic pollution than plastic waste.

According to the IUCN, an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of plastic waste is released into the oceans each year, and out of this a whopping 15% to 31% constitutes of microplastics which are so small, they mix with the waters to make a clear "plastic soup", leaving the water looking pristine and clean but is actually polluted.

Plastic debris floats in the waters of Hanauma Bay, Hawaii [Photo Credit]

But where does these micro-plastics come from?

It might come as a surprise to some of you, but our lifestyle is one of the major contributors to this malaise. Our auto tyres, our love of synthetic clothing, even our toothpaste and our craze for cosmetics blinds us to the fact that these products contain micro-plastics which are washed off and end up constituting almost a third of the plastic waste in our oceans.

In fact as IUCN chief Inger Andersen said in a statement:

Our daily activities, such as washing clothes and driving, significantly contribute to the pollution choking our oceans, with potentially disastrous effects on the rich diversity of life within them, and on human health.
Plastic waste is not all there is to ocean plastics, we must look far beyond waste management if we are to address ocean pollution in its entirety.

It seems to be even worse in countries who have advanced pollution control systems, as the report finds that tiny plastic particles are in fact rampant, as it had never been considered before, and constitutes a bigger challenge now.

So how does it affect us?

The thing with micro-plastics is they are hard to spot and gives us the feeling that all is well, and the waters are clean. But they are not!

These micro-plastics could be ingested by fishes, which may end up on our dinner table, and though there is genuine concern that it could be harmful for humans to consume fish that have ingested plastic, there is no conclusive study done as yet.

And this can change in the future, but it seems logical to realize that it may not benefit us if our food also consists of plastic particles which have been ingested by the main course!

Each year, around 9 million tons of plastic ends up in the oceans [Photo Credit]

So what do we do?

I actually don't know, but I just read about an initiative of the UN, called the "CleanSea" initiave, which was announced this Wednesday at the Economist World Ocean Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

The initiative focuses on two major sources of marine litter: single-use plastic bags and microplastics in cosmetic products, because if we do not take any steps at this point, it is estimated that our oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050.

The initiative aims to bring pressure on Industry to change manufacturing habits by eliminating the use of micro-plastics in their products. Like in the case of automobile tyres, they could go back to using rubber, rather than plastics, as the tyre industry is the single largest contributor to micro-plastics in our oceans.

But the thing is we, the humans, will have to evaluate and change our present way of living which is creating waste of a kind which had not been considered earlier, the microplastics, which is invisible but has a considerable impact on our health, and that of our oceans.

I leave you now with a quote from actress and advocate Nadya Hutagalung:

On bathroom shelves around the world sit products that are destroying life in our oceans. No beauty product is worth destroying the world’s beautiful oceans, not to mention our own human well-being.

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Understanding Ocean Pollution And The Role Of Micro-Plastics

But where does these micro-plastics come from?

So how does it affect us?

So what do we do?