There is no pure land? Deep ocean is also arranged by micro-plastics? part two

So, who is the food chain terminal in nature?

That's right, it's us! We are the ultimate "beneficiaries" of "big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp", but our stomach can't digest these micro-plastics, even though plastics were invented by humans.

In addition to some daily plastic products, we use a large amount of frosted particles in cosmetics or cleaning products, and there are a lot of fiber fragments eluted from the clothes in the waste water discharged from the washing machine. These particles float on the water surface, even sewage treatment. The factory has no way to deal with them...

Scrub and exfoliating massage granules in personal care products such as facial cleanser, bath salt, and shower gel are micro-plastics. When they are discharged into the ocean, they are turned into cleansing by the “helper” of the skin. Killer." Moreover, with the frequent use of plastic products in production and life, large plastics exposed to the natural world will be decomposed into plastic fragments under the influence of physical and chemical factors such as ultraviolet radiation, wave slap, chemical attack and the like.

Whether it is plastic pollution in the ocean or micro-plastic pollution is essentially the same. “They are both high-molecular polymers, which are caused by plastic waste generated in human production activities.” Zhao Hongwei, an associate professor of environmental science at Hainan University, told the Journal of Chinese Journal of Science, because micro-plastics are smaller in diameter and easier to be Zooplankton, fish, marine benthic organisms, etc. in the ocean ingest, affecting their normal growth, development and reproduction, and ultimately destroying the ecological balance. Moreover, the surface of the microplastic is easily enriched with toxic substances such as persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals, and is easy to enter the marine organism, and then enters the human body through the food chain.

So, after you wash your hands with the hand sanitizer, you can wash away the foam. Maybe after a while, you will change your face and return to the table in front of you.

It is understood that since most plastics are lower in density than seawater and can float on the surface of seawater, marine plastic waste can migrate over long distances under the influence of ocean currents. Global marine plastic waste accounts for 60% to 80% of all waste, and in some areas plastics can reach 90% to 95%. It is estimated that more than 500 million pieces of plastic and at least 250,000 tons of plastics worldwide are currently floating in the ocean. As plastics continue to accumulate and shatter, the scale of marine microplastics is imaginable.