Author: Editor

Plastic Soup Foundation

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Plastic does not belong in the ocean

The contamination of the oceans by plastics is an added problem to global warming, acidification and overfishing. The oceans form 72% of the earth’s surface and are our main suppliers of oxygen. Plastic pollution is therefore a serious threat to earth’s vital ecosystem, especially because plastic does not biodegrade. Through the degradation and fragmentation of plastics into small pieces, all our water changes into a global soup of microplastics. Toxic chemicals are also released by these plastics. Animals, even zooplankton, mistake the broken down plastic for food. In this way toxic waste often enters our food chain. A large part of the world’s population is dependent on food from the ocean. The plastic contamination of the water can do serious harm to our health. Against this background, the Plastic Soup Foundation (PSF) wants to call a halt to the increasing plastic contamination of our oceans. The PSF wants to strongly advocate for that no more plastic enters in the sea in the future.

  1. The PSF promotes and supports measures that prevent the break down and proliferation of plastic waste (at sea).
  2. The PSF supports actions that aim to remove plastic from the sea, the beaches and islands.
  3. The PSF seeks international cooperation with scientists, organisations, universities and businesses that have a similar vision and objectives.
  4. The PSF works closely together with leading experts, researchers and enterprises.
  5. The PSF wants to shape and support a movement that, using social media, encourages citizen’s active participation and involves them in working on solutions and collecting good practices.
  6. The PSF wants to see a ban on plastic products and plastic waste products which are small or contain small plastic particles and which are produced, distributed, used and spread on a large scale, or are expected to be.
  7. The PSF strongly supports to assist developing countries in tackling pollution problems. Alternatives have to be developed that align with respective culture and context. This is pursued in a collaborative process of sustainable and interactive development.

Plastic soup = poisonous soup

Mermaids – Ocean Clean Wash

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Did you know you are contributing to marine pollution by washing your clothes? Every wash of synthetic fabrics or composed fabrics (like cotton/polyester) discharges plastic fibers less than a millimeter in length. Wastewater treatment plants let them through. Fibers found on shorelines match with material used in clothing; polyester, acrylic and nylon. The impact of plastic micro- and nanofibers on the (sea) ecosystem has to be reduced. MERMAIDS, co-financed by the Life+ 2013 programme of the European Union, is looking for solutions. On this site you learn about MERMAIDS and how industry and households can be part of the solution. http://life-mermaids.eu/en/

What can you do?

Every year, Europeans do around 36 billion loads of washing and most of them contain synthetic clothes, releasing millions of non-degradable fibres into the waste water. Most of these fibres slip undetected through water treatment plants and out to the sea.

Who are the major culprits? Acrylic, nylon and polyester. One polyester fleece jacket sheds almost a million fibres per wash. An acrylic scarf: 300,000 fibres. Nylon socks: 136,000 fibres. Eventually, fish mistake these fibres for plankton when they end up in the oceans and seas. Around 65% of the shrimp in the North Sea contain synthetic fibres. And, guess what? We are at the top of the food chain, so they end up in our plates.

With small changes in your washing habits, you can reduce the amount of fibres you shed:

  • Fill up your washing machine to the max: washing a full load results in less friction between the clothes and, therefore, less fibres are released.
  • Use washing liquid instead of powder: the ‘scrub’ function of the grains of the powder result in loosening the fibres of clothes more than with liquid.
  • Use a fabric softener: some ingredients in fabric softeners reduce friction between fibres so the release decreases.
  • Wash at a low temperature: when clothes are washed at a high temperature some fabrics are damaged, leading to the release of fibres.
  • Avoid long washings: long periods of washing cause more friction between fabrics, which supposes more tearing of the fibres.
  • Dry spin clothes at low revs: higher revolutions increase the friction between the clothes, resulting in higher chances of fibres loosening.
  • Avoid buying synthetic clothes and look for wool, cotton, linen, silk, cashmere or other natural fabrics.

National Resource Defense Council

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Oceans help feed the world, provide a living for millions of people, and are home to most of the life on the planet.

NRDC works to protect our seas from pollution and exploitation. We help implement laws that allow overfished species to rebound, and we fight to protect coastal communities from offshore drilling. We work to ban destructive fishing practices, conserve ocean treasures, and improve stewardship of the world’s shared oceans, which generate trillions of dollars in economic activity. https://www.nrdc.org/issues/oceans

Stop Plastic Pollution

A massive volume of plastic garbage now litters every ocean on the planet, posing a growing threat to marine life. Hundreds of species of seabirds, whales, sea turtles, and other marine life ingest or get entangled in plastic, and scientists say the number is rising along with the amount of marine trash. NRDC fights to protect marine life by preventing plastic pollution from reaching the ocean in the first place. https://www.nrdc.org/issues/stop-plastic-pollution

5 Gyers

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S.E.A. Change – Science. Education. Activism.

We have led the effort to research aquatic plastic pollution and to find solutions for regaining a plastic-free ocean. Our mission is to empower people to become leaders in combating the global health crisis of plastic pollution. http://www.5gyres.org/

Ocean Conservancy

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We face many complex challenges when it comes to a clean and healthy ocean, but one problem is simple to understand: Trash.

People know that trash in the water:

  • compromises the health of humans, wildlife and the livelihoods that depend on a healthy ocean;
  • threatens tourism and recreation, and the critical dollars they add to our local economies;
  • complicates shipping and transportation by causing navigation hazards; and
  • generates steep bills for retrieval and removal.

Unfortunately, what we see dirtying beaches and floating on the ocean’s surface is just the tip of the iceberg. Much more lies unseen beneath the surface and far away on the open water — but that doesn’t make it any less important.

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/top-10-items-found-1.html

Report: Ocean Trash Impacts

Our study on the deadliest ocean trash.

Stemming the Tide

Our 2015 report on a way forward to eliminate ocean plastic.

2015 Ocean Trash Index

Download the data collected during the 2014 International Coastal Cleanup.

New Study on Ocean Trash

A new study provides first estimate of how much plastic flows into the ocean.

International Coastal Cleanup

Volunteers collected more than 16 million pounds of trash during Ocean Conservancy’s 2015 International Coastal Cleanup. Here’s what they found.

Talking Trash & Taking Action

A marine debris education partnership between Ocean Conservancy and the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

Sponsors

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Thank you, Will J. Reid Foundation!

Sponsorship levels ($1,000, $2,500, $5,000, $10,000)

Save The Albatross Coalition is a project of the GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN) which is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible. If your donation exceeds $500, it will be more cost effective if you make a check out to GRRN and send it to:

Save The Albatross Coalition
c/o GRRN
672 Robinson Road
Sebastopol, CA 95472
You may also uses PayPal to donate.

When paying for an event, include a note with names, titles, email addresses and phone numbers.

The Plastic Debris Project

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Eliminating Land-based Discharges Of Marine Debris In California: A Plan of Action from The Plastic Debris Project

The Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea Project seeks to minimize the land-based discharges of marine debris. Just like ocean-based marine debris, land-based discharges of human-made debris are comprised mostly of plastics. http://www.plasticdebris.org/CA_Action_Plan_2006.pdf

The threat and impacts of marine debris have long been ignored. Perhaps it is the perceived vastness of ocean and lack of visibility of marine debris to most people that has allowed society to dismiss the problem as a serious threat. However, recent research demonstrates that quantities and impacts of marine debris are significant and increasing. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation’s investigation of plastic in the North Pacific Central Gyre of the Pacific Ocean showed that the mass of plastic pieces was six times greater than zooplankton floating on the water’s surface. This study is one of many that demonstrate that our oceans have become the virtual garbage can for the developed and developing world.(1)

Popular Media

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Most Table Salt Is Probably Full of Plastic

550 and 681 microplastic particles per kilogram of table salt,  Richard Macauley, The Atlantic, 10/2015

World’s Oceans Clogged by Millions of Tons of Plastic Trash

“In short, you name it and it is probably somewhere in the marine environment”, Will Dunham, Reuters – 2/2105

Global Impact Of Debris On Marine Life Studied

Nearly 700 species of marine animal have been recorded as having encountered humanmade debris such as plastic and glass according to the most comprehensive impact study in more than a decade. ScienceDaily, University of Plymouth, 2/2015

Good Job, Humans: The oceans now contain 5 trillion pieces of floating plastic

Toxin-laden microplastics cycling through entire marine ecosystem

Chris Mooney,  Washington Post, 12/2014

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: We Are Literally Filling Up The Pacific Ocean With Plastic

Filling up our oceans with massive amounts of plastic that never biodegrades.

Michael Snyder, American Dream, 06/14