Tag : Plastics

Bremerhaven (Germany): A new study investigates the atmosphere as a related cause of plastic pollution in the waters of our planet. The findings of the research were published in the journal 'Nature Reviews Earth & Environment' by an international team of researchers including experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research. According to estimates, by 2040, the level of plastic pollution could reach 80 million metric tons per year. Plastic particles have now been detected in virtually all spheres of the environment, e.g. in water bodies, the soil and the air. Via ocean currents and rivers, the tiny plastic particles can even reach the Arctic, Antarctic or ocean depths. A new overview study has now shown that wind, too, can transport these particles great distances - and much faster than water can: in the atmosphere, they can travel from their point of origin to the most remote corners of the planet in a matter of days. Today, between 0.013 and 25 million metric tons of micro and nano plastic per year are transported up to thousands of kilometres by ocean air, snow, sea spray and fog, crossing countries, continents and oceans in the process. This estimate was arrived at by an international team of 33 researchers, including experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam (IASS) and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel. "Air is a much more dynamic medium than water," said co-author Dr Melanie Bergmann from the AWI. "As a result, micro and nano plastic can much more quickly penetrate those regions o ...