Under the influence of sunlight, plastic partly disintegrates into tiny particles that still pollute the sea. But another part of the plastic appears to decay into substances that bacteria can break down further.
According to PhD student Annalisa Delre and her colleagues, 1.7 percent of all floating plastic can be broken down in this way by sunlight each year. “That may not sound like much, but year-over-year this sunlight-induced degradation explains much of the plastic soup we’ve lost to the oceans since the 1950s,” Delre explains. The researchers published their findings in the scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.
The amount of plastic found in the oceans is large and there is also a lot of attention for the negative effects of this pollution. At the same time, the question has always been why only a fraction of the waste that could be dumped is found in the oceans.
“In science, this problem is known as the vanishing plastic paradox,” explains NIOZ. According to the researchers, degradation due to sunlight can explain about a fifth of this phenomenon.
NIOZ researcher Helge Niemann, who oversaw the research, sees “potentially good news” in the findings. For her, the best solution to the plastic problem remains to stop the supply of plastic through rivers to the oceans.
Unfortunately, this content cannot be viewedWe do not have permission for necessary cookies. Accept cookies to view this content.
