Plastics Degrade to Deadly Chemicals

The Pacific Ocean beaches of Washington State extend from Canada to Oregon, nearly unobstructed. However, these pristine-appearing beaches are fed a steady diet of toxic and hazardous waste, including as dangerous flotsam and jetsam from the many outlets to the Pacific, as well as from the Pacific Ocean itself. The contributions to ocean- and beach-borne toxic waste from land-disposed sewage sludge remain unknown and uninvestigated, but we have observed substantial offerings to the deadly flow from wastewater treatment plants along the coast, including from those that receive awards of excellence from the Department of Ecology. The amounts of this deadly matter that originate respectively from solid waste landfills in Canada, Oregon or Washington also remain unknown. In any case, it is killing us all.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca connects the Pacific Ocean with the Salish Sea (Puget Sound, etc.), and Grays Harbor Inlet provides an opening that drains the western middle of the State to the Sea. At the southern end of the State, the Columbia River drains parts of Canada through the interior of Washington, joined along the way by the likes of the Spokane, Snake and Yakima Rivers, plus so many others, all of which convey the State’s trash to the curiously-colored Pacific – colored in so many heinous ways.

Just to the south of Grays Harbor Inlet lies Willapa Bay, one of the cleanest waters on the Pacific Coast of the US. Other than what enters the Bay from the ocean, Willapa Bay generates nearly no pollution of its own, but relies on adjacent waters for its toxic load. Some of the highest quality Oysters in the US originate in Willapa Bay, and are supported in their health in one major case by the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company that years ago decided to end all land disposal of toxic sewage sludge on their tree farms that surround Willapa Bay. It remains unfathomable that the State and the surrounding counties promoted sewage sludge dumping in the forests adjacent to Willapa Bay, but that is one of our cruelest lessons of history, hopefully never to be repeated again. There is one remaining large private lumber firm that continues to receive toxic sewage sludge on its tree farms, but their lack stewardship and failed attempts at environmental sensitivity are about to be remedied.

West of Willapa Bay, the Long Beach Peninsula separates the Bay from the Pacific by miles of sand and the wild things that live there, including the people and other wild-like things, all of which experience a steady diet of river- and Pacific Ocean-borne plastic debris and the massive and endless toxicity associated therewith.

The trick that is played on the oyster-eaters of the world who dine on Willapa Bay Oysters is substantial. All life forms that reside in those waters are saturated in the toxic degradation products of the ‘Pacific Trash Vortex,’ supplemented well by all that flows to sea from the Bays, Straits and Rivers, and all that washes up on the Washington State beaches in mega-metric ton loads, non-stop.

Walk those beaches, as have I for decades, on any day of the year and you will trip over the residuals of Fukushima and the debris of nearby environs, much of which is of plastic origin, in either solid or molecular form – it’s all there for the taking, or for the stumbling. Holy cow! Holy polymers!

Unfortunately, there is not a single State or federal agency tasked with stemming the origin of this toxic plastic milieu, or with cleaning-up what we receive every day, ad infinitum.

 

Look to the south, and beyond those far hills is Oregon.

 

Look to the west, and there resides Fukushima and the rest of the Pacific.

 

Look or walk to the north to Oh (O) Canada, and it’s all just beach, toxin-contaminated beach. That is a palm tree trunk resting on the shore.

 

Look down, and what you see is the multicolored rainbow of the world's plastic debris at your feet, nearly forever.

 

Look closer at bits and pieces of plastic. They're everywhere!

 

Take a closer look, and it seems to grow.

 

Closer still, and it becomes evident that what you collect comes from nearly everywhere.

 

Hunks and chunks in all sizes, shapes and colors.

 

And some are like little spheres; what are they? While the larger and odd-shaped pieces are broken fragments from manufactured plastic products, the sphere-like balls of plastic are the plastic stock material that plastic product manufacturers use as the raw material they buy in bulk to feed the plastics molding manufacturing machines.

 

Some plastic raw material stock is spherical or disc shaped, mostly white. The other colored pieces are more likely breakdown fragments of manufactured products that became rounded by wave action on the sand or by degradation in sunlight.

 

Most are about 2 - 5 mm in diameter.

 

Not a rounded pebble, but a stock plastic sphere that never reached the manufacturing plant. When considering the massive amounts of plastic stock material along the hundred or so miles of beaches, just here, perhaps shiploads of this toxic mess are abandoned regularly, to our hazard and harm.

 

Some of the commonly-encountered plastic stock material spheres have telltale ridges, likely from the manufacturing process.

 

These plastic items are recycled through other life forms, then through us, without exception.

Little did we know that all of us are plastics recyclers by default. All shapes and sizes, of a few colors, and all deadly. These little terrors degrade to micro, then nano forms, and then to molecular entities that are readily taken-up by cells as they enter and transit the food chain to many living creatures, including to us.

Which federal or state agencies monitor, prevent or clean-up this toxic chowder? None, says I.

The section below is excerpted from: Wikipedia 12/01/15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great Pacific garbage patch

“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a Gyre (a large system of rotating ocean currents) of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean. The Patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has one of the highest levels known of plastic particulates suspended in the upper water column. As a result, it is one of several oceanic regions where researchers have studied the effects and impact of plastic photodegradation in the neustonic layer of water (Neuston: The organisms that float on the top of water [epineuston] or live right under the surface [hyponeuston]).

Unlike organic debris, which biodegrades, the photodegraded plastic disintegrates into ever smaller pieces while remaining a polymer. This process continues down to the molecular level. As the plastic flotsam photodegrades into smaller and smaller pieces, it concentrates in the upper water column. As it disintegrates, the plastic ultimately becomes small enough to be ingested by aquatic organisms that reside near the ocean's surface. In this way, plastic may become concentrated in the neuston, thereby entering the food chain.

Some plastics decompose within a year of entering the water, leaching potentially toxic chemicals, such as bisphenol A, PCBs and derivatives of polystyrene.

• Thompson, R. C.; Olsen, Y; Mitchell, RP; Davis, A; Rowland, SJ; John, AW; McGonigle, D; Russell, AE (2004). "Lost at Sea: Where is All the Plastic?" Science 304 (5672): 838. doi:10.1126/science.1094559. PMID 15131299.
• Barnes, D. K. A.; Galgani, F.; Thompson, R. C.; Barlaz, M. (2009). "Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 364 (1526): 1985–98. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0205. JSTOR 40485977. PMC 2873009. PMID 19528051.
• Barry, Carolyn (20 August 2009). "Plastic Breaks Down in Ocean, After All – And Fast". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society. Retrieved 30 August 2009.

Effect on wildlife and humans: Some of these long-lasting plastics end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals, and their young, including sea turtles and the black-footed albatross. Midway Atoll receives substantial amounts of marine debris from the patch. Of the 1.5 million Laysan albatrosses that inhabit Midway, nearly all are found to have plastic in their digestive system. Approximately one-third of their chicks die, and many of those deaths are due to being fed plastic from their parents. Twenty tons of plastic debris washes up on Midway every year, with five tons of that debris being fed to albatross chicks.

Besides the particles' danger to wildlife, on the microscopic level the floating debris can absorb organic pollutants from seawater, including PCBs, DDT, and PAHs. Aside from toxic effects, when ingested, some of these are mistaken by the endocrine system as estradiol, causing hormone disruption in the affected animal. These toxin-containing plastic pieces are also eaten by jellyfish, which are then eaten by larger fish. Many of these fish are then consumed by humans, resulting in their ingestion of toxic chemicals. On the macroscopic level, the physical size of the plastic kills whales, fish, birds and turtles, as the animals' digestion cannot break down the plastic that is taking up space inside their stomachs. While eating their normal sources of food, plastic ingestion can be unavoidable or the animal may mistake the plastic as a food source. Research has shown that this plastic marine debris affects at least 267 species worldwide

Microbial degradation: Bacteria have been found in the plastic-polluted waters of the Sargasso Sea that consume plastic; however, it is unknown whether these bacteria ultimately clean up poisons or simply spread them elsewhere in the marine microbial ecosystem. Plastic debris can absorb toxic chemicals from ocean pollution, potentially poisoning anything that eats it.”

• http://www.algalita.org/plastic-debris-delivers-tr... 
•  http://inhabitat.com/ocean-plastics-absorb-other-t... 
•  http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean... 
•  http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/plastic-ocean/ 
•  http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case... 

Related Links:

1. How Does Plastic Get Into The Ocean? Project Green Bag. Describes how marine waste has compiled into the different plastic islands.

2. Plastic Contamination in the Atlantic Ocean Earth Times, Kirsten E. Silven. Speaks specifically to the Atlantic garbage patch and plastic pollution in the ocean.

3. Plastic Breaks Down in Ocean, After All- And Fast National Geographic. Discusses how plastic breaks down in the ocean and is ingested by sea birds, and asserts that humans will be affected by the toxins, as well.

4. Human Health Warning UN New Centre. Useful information about the human tendency to waste and pollute and how it is effecting the planet and its species.

5. Adverse Health Effects of Plastics Ecology Center. Discusses the health impacts that plastics have on humans and the dangers in different plastic chemicals.

6. Impacts of plastics on human health and ecosystems News Medical. Extensive article on research done by Rolf Halden and his concern for humans and the environment from our irresponsible use of plastic.