#reblogging for added contextinformation
saw a post claiming that microplastics are mostly fishing nets which seems to be…totally made up? fishing nets ARE a source of microplastics but a quick google says (page 4) theyre like 0.5 Mtons/y and the total from plastic waste is 5-8 Mtons/y. do you think someone would do that. just go on the internet and tell lies
From the linked paper:
The global release of primary microplastics into the ocean was estimated at 1.5 million tons per year (Mtons/year). The estimate ranges between 0.8 and 2.5 Mtons/year according to an optimistic or pessimistic scenario. The global figure corresponds to a world equivalent per capita release of 212 grams or the equivalent of one empty conventional plastic grocery bag thrown into the ocean per person/per week worldwide.
The overwhelming majority of the losses of primary microplastics (98%) are generated from land-based activities. Only 2% is generated from activities at sea. The largest proportion of these particles stem from the laundering of synthetic textiles and from the abrasion of tyres while driving.
I can definitely understand where the original post was coming from; it’s important to consider the huge amount of environmental pollutants that are the result of corporate malfeasance, however the initial post specifically says:
Do not allow them to continue to twist the story. Do not come after disabled people who require single use plastics. Do not come after people using glitter in art projects and makeup. These things make up a negligible amount of the issue compared to corporate waste, specifically in the fishing industry. [emphasis mine]
And again, I do think that glitter and single-use plastics are often overemphasized, but the study in question was the first proof of microplastics in human blood and the study specifically considered:
sources in the living environment entering air, water and food, but also personal care products that might be ingested (e.g. PE in toothpaste, PET in lip gloss), dental polymers, fragments of polymeric implants, polymeric drug delivery nanoparticles (e.g. PMMA, PS), tattoo ink residues (e.g. acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene particles).
So while I think the initial post is valid in saying “let’s not blame people who rely on straws or individually wrapped medical supplies or food items” I do think that attempting to frame fishing nets (which are the majority of oceanic plastic waste, do release microplastics as they degrade, and are a major component of microplastics in ocean water) is incorrect when the questions this study should raise are more along the lines of “why are so many of the things around us, from our clothing to our makeup to our denture adhesives, made of plastic and are there options that might reduce our overall environmental exposure to plastics?”
So I think it’s primarily shortsighted to focus on the fishing industry when the fishing industry should be under scrutiny as well as the fast fashion industry, the cosmetics industry, and industrial food production and preparation.
