According to a new estimate by a team of researchers released Monday, the amounts of plastic released into the oceans would be much lower than previously estimated by scientists, but the litter would be longer-lived.
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Scientists from the Netherlands and Germany ran computer models based on extensive data from observations from both the coasts, the surface and the depths of the oceans to get an assessment of the problem.
In the journal “Nature Geoscience” they come to the conclusion that significantly less plastic ends up in the oceans than previously assumed, but that more flotsam is floating around.
The authors calculated that around 470,000 to 540,000 tons end up in the oceans every year – a number that may seem considerable, but is still well below the 4 to 12 million tons previously estimated.
However, the total amount of floating plastic waste, at around 3.2 million tons, is significantly higher than previously estimated. “Most of the plastic mass consists of large objects” (greater than 2.5 centimeters) that float more easily, explain the authors of this study.
The good news: large objects on the surface are easier to pick up than microplastics. Bad news: Plastic also stays in the ocean much longer than previously thought.
“This means that it will take longer for the effects of measures to combat plastic waste to become visible,” said Mikael Kaandorp of Utrecht University, the study’s lead author.
“It will be even more difficult to go back to the previous situation. And if we don’t act now, the effects will be felt for much longer,” he warns.
With plastic pollution ubiquitous on the planet, the principle of a legally binding treaty to combat this scourge was agreed in February 2022 in Nairobi, at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). This promise must now be redeemed in several rounds of negotiations.
During a second negotiating session in Paris, 175 countries decided to finalize a “first version” of a future treaty before their next negotiating meeting in November in Kenya.