Institute News
Surf’s up, or is it? Quantifying the plastics problem Marine plastics pollution is among the biggest environmental challenges facing the planet at present. An estimated 51 trillion pieces of microplastics are currently polluting the oceans – that’s more than 500 times the number of stars in our galaxy.
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hould current trends in marine plastics pollution continue, the amount of plastics in our oceans could outweigh fish by 2050. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the use of plastics has increased in the last 50 years and is continuing to rise. Moreover, we also don’t reuse nearly as many plastics as we could, resulting in these going to landfill, which can then pollute the oceans. The IWMSA Eastern Cape Branch’s recent regional mini-conference, entitled ‘Surf’s Up or Is It?’, explored the current state of marine plastics pollution, its causes and possible solutions to the issue. Leon Grobbelaar, president, IWMSA, opened the conference with a video clip that highlights that marine plastics pollution is a global issue affecting all the oceans along our shoreline. “While the beauty of our coastlines attracts people from far and wide, the high volumes of waste produced pose a major threat to our precious coastal environments,” he said.
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Dylan Bailey from Bayworld then presented his research on mathematical models that have been developed to model marine plastics pollution and can be used to run various simulations based on different scenarios to determine the impact of future actions on this pollution problem.
The ‘Towards Zero Plastics to the Seas’ approach Dr Tony Ribbink of the Sustainable Seas Trust (SST) presented on a project called ‘Towards Zero Plastic to South African Seas’. “The Towards Zero Plastics to the Seas approach provides a focus that enables people to set goals and measure progress, ideally against time frames. It is valuable in setting frameworks to guide the development of national and regional action plans that are so important to Africa.” The presentation emphasised the importance of improved waste management on land, as an estimated 80% of solid waste pollution in the marine environment originates from land-based sources. It also quantified the scale of marine
plastics pollution through citing shocking facts, including that 350 kg of plastics enter the ocean per second. In conjunction with the project, the SST will also hold a conference themed ‘Towards Zero Plastic to South African Seas’. The conference is an opportunity to agree on best practices and to explore ways to measure progress Towards Zero Plastics to the Seas, and ultimately measure progress towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and the effectiveness of actions taken.
Where do marine plastics come from? According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the main sources of marine plastics are land-based – ranging from urban and stormwater run-off to sewer overflows, beach visitors, inadequate waste disposal and management, industrial activities, construction, and illegal dumping. Ocean-based plastics originate mainly from the fishing industry, nautical activities and