Plastic waste in oceans is mainly close to coasts, researchers say
Most of the plastic waste polluting the planet’s oceans is within ten kilometres of the coast, rather than out on the open sea, University of Bern researchers have found.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/dos
“In all the scenarios we’ve calculated, about 80% of floating plastic waste drifts no more than ten kilometres from the coast five years after it entered the ocean,” said Victor Onink, the study’s lead author, in a University of Bern statement.
The large-scale study, published in the Environmental Research Letters journal, runs against previous models of tracking waste, which suggest that plastic tends to collect in large ocean gyres, or rotating currents.
Not only does it not reach the open seas, but at least over a third of plastic waste also then washes up onto beaches or gets stranded along coastlines, the researchers say.
They warn that this has “serious consequences for the environment, since coastal ecosystems are particularly sensitive to plastic pollution.” They also point out that polluted coasts “dramatically lose their value for tourism”.
More
More
Debris ahoy! Transforming ocean plastic into energy
This content was published on
“We face a disastrous situation,” the foundation president, Marco Simeoni, told reporters in Lausanne on Tuesday. “As the World Economic Forum recently reportedExternal link, if we don’t do anything, by 2050 in terms of weight there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.” The amount of plastic being produced annually continues to rise…
Between one and 13 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean each year. The issue, which has consequences for marine life as well as coastal ecosystems, has become a major environmental concern.
In 2016, the World Economic Forum predicted that if current trends continued, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050.
Given the results of the Bern research, however, Onink is sceptical about highly-mediatised efforts to clean up the open seas.
“The concentration of plastic appears relatively low in the open ocean,” he said. “It makes you wonder if resources are really being used most efficiently with these kinds of projects.” For him, a better solution is to prevent plastic reaching the open ocean in the first place, for example by “fishing plastic out of large rivers or removing plastic from coastlines”.
Unsurprisingly, regions of the world with the highest volumes of plastic waste in general also end up having the most affected coastlines, the study found. These include South-East Asia and the Mediterranean region – which is doubly disadvantaged by pollution entering from the Nile river, and by its small and enclosed situation.
Least affected areas are generally less- populated regions like the Poles, the Chilean coast, and some parts of the Australian littoral.
More
More
How to clear the ocean of plastic? With a giant sailing boat
This content was published on
The giant solar-powered catamaran to clean the ocean of plastic is the brainchild of French-Swiss navigator Yvan Bourgnon.
Swiss climate activists block vehicles near Gotthard tunnel
This content was published on
Around ten climate activists briefly blocked the A2 motorway near the northern entrance of the Gotthard tunnel on Thursday.
Watches belonging to Michael Schumacher up for auction
This content was published on
Schumacher's family is auctioning off eight rare watches from his collection in Geneva. The Christie's auction will take place on Monday.
Joya Marleen and Baschi named best solo acts at Swiss Music Awards
This content was published on
St. Gallen singer Joya Marleen and Baschi from Basel were named artists of the year at the Swiss Music Awards 2024 on Wednesday night.
Swiss authorities announce cost-cutting in asylum sector
This content was published on
The government notably wants to improve integration into the labour force, particularly for people with protection status S.
Various leaders confirm participation at Ukraine peace conference
This content was published on
The presidents of Poland, Finland, and Latvia and the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium will be at the Swiss-hosted talks in mid-June.
This content was published on
In the winter season up to April 2024, railway and cable car operators ferried 3% more visitors compared to the previous winter, and 5% more than the five-year average.
Rhine flooding: Swiss to invest CHF1 billion with Austria
This content was published on
As part of an international agreement with Austria, the Swiss government wants to pump CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion) into flood protection measures along the Rhine over the next three decades.
Swiss government proposes CHF10 million UNRWA donation
This content was published on
After months of debate, Switzerland plans to give CHF10 million ($11 million) to the UN agency this year, rather than the CHF20 million initially foreseen.
Large volumes of microplastics exist in Lake Geneva
This content was published on
A recent analysis by the Oceaneye group shows that Lake Geneva contains large quantities of plastic waste smaller than 20 centimetres.
This content was published on
Florian Faure points his tweezers at the surface of a murky cocktail he has just extracted from the Rhône River west of Geneva. “That’s a plastic pellet and those are polystyrene balls,” explains the environmental researcher from Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). Time for a final sample. He leans over the edge of the…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.