As most of you may know our oceans are horribly polluted with plastic, so much so that scientists now believe that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish. Isn’t that terrifying to think of?!?! We also know that plastic is killing a lot of animals in our rivers, lakes and oceans because they mistake it for food. But how does this affect us?

First, it is important to keep in mind that plastic does not break down, it breaks up. A lot of these plastic materials that are in our oceans, rivers and lakes are breaking up into tiny particles called, you guessed it, microplastics. These tiny pieces of plastic are no more than 5mm and some can hardly be seen by the human eye.

There are two forms of Microplastic:

1. Primary microplastic: These are plastics that enter the environment already small enough to be microplastics, such as,

-Fibers from our clothing when we wash them.

-Tyre dust from the tires on our vehicles.

-Glitter

-Microbeads (used in face washes, cosmetics, and toothpastes to exfoliate or scrub)

2. Secondary Microplastics: Plastic materials that dumped into the environment and break up from sunlight, waves or other physical stress. Over time they become microplastics. This can be from any plastic item you can think of, but below I have listed a few of the main contributors to this problem.

-Water Bottles

-Tooth Brushes

-Food containers

-Plastic bags

-Single use plastic items  

Why should we worry?

Microplastic are so small that they normally don’t get picked up by filters, so they make their way into our rivers, lakes and oceans. These microplastics then attract extremely harmful chemicals such as pesticides, flame retardants and more. Also most plastics already have toxic chemicals on them consisting of BPA and DEHP which are known to have negative effects to humans.

A lot of these microplastics are swallowed by fish and they do not digest inside of the fish. Instead they cause many health problems for these animals or end up killing them. Some of these fish will feel full and end up starving to death because they aren’t receiving any nutrients. These microplastics then work their way up the food chain to larger animals that eat fish and cause the same problems.

Now you may be thinking how fish eating microplastic’s affects you… well it does. Do you eat fish? If the answer is yes then you most likely have microplastic in you. Actually a lot of humans have microplastic in them, even if they don’t eat fish. Scientists have found microplastic in salt, honey, beer and tap water, but they aren’t yet sure what the long term effects are for humans. However it is safe to say that humans have lost control of plastic.

What can we do to help?

Luckily there are a lot of ways in which you can help! Everyday we play a crucial role in helping our environment. If you can’t reuse it refuse it! Even though it’s great to recycle the best step you can take is not to use plastic when you don’t need to.   

1. When you go out shopping try not to buy items in plastic packaging that you’re going to toss right away. Also try avoiding those tiny plastic produce bags you see at the store. Instead try shopping with your own small cloth produce bags.

2. If you are at a cafe or fast food refuse the single use plastic packaging and bring your own containers. I know this may feel awkward when you present your own containers to the cashier, but these little awkward moments can go a long way for our environment.

3. Before you go shopping for new clothes stop and think about the impact your clothing has on the planet. Try to by secondhand as often as you can and avoid fast fashion. Besides when you buy second hand you are getting something truly unique rather than an item a hundred people might have bought that same day. Also don’t throw your clothes away, either donate them or turn them into rags to use around the house. You can also turn old clothes into produce bag for your food!

4. Encourage your friends and family to do the same! Being able to teach others and have support makes the journey much easier.

There are many steps you can take to help the environment, but I think these are the best ones to start out with. It’s never easy to change our daily lifestyle, but if we don’t start then our future generations won’t look back on us very fondly.