The solution to reduce the plastics circulation is to stop using disposable plastic items.
Approximately eight million tons of plastic waste circulating in the oceans world every year, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Dr. Jenna Jembeck, team leader of scientists from the University of Georgia, USA, seeks to find out how much plastic waste circulating in the oceans world by collecting international data on population, waste generation, governance trash, and error in managing waste.
From these data, Jembeck and his colleagues created several models of scenarios to estimate the likely amount of plastic that goes into the sea.
For the year 2010, for example, the amount of trash is estimated at 4.8 to 12.7 million tones. The lower limit was set at 4.8 million tons was approximately equal to the amount of tuna caught worldwide
“We like taking tuna and replace it with plastic,” said one of the study participants Kara Lavender Law of the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole.
From the range of 4.8 million tons to 12.7 million tons, the scientists set up 8 million tones as the average forecast. That number is only a percentage of the total plastic waste generated each year the world population.
“The quantity of plastic waste found in the sea is equal to about five plastic shopping bags contain for every meter of shoreline in the world,” said Jembeck the BBC.
Waste production
In a study published in Science Magazine also mentioned, the researchers have made a list of the countries that have contributed to the plastic waste in the oceans. A total of 20 countries in the list are responsible for 83% of all waste that ends in the ocean.
China, which produces more than one million tons of waste in the sea, perched on the top of the list.
China’s position, according to the researchers, is a consequence of the Chinese population are many and mostly live along the coastline.
Likewise, the United States entered the top 20 on the list. Although the US has a better waste management, the volume of waste generated by each individual there enormous.
The amount of plastic waste together with five plastic shopping bags contain for every meter of shoreline world.
Solutions
As a solution, Dr. Jembeck and his colleagues appealed to rich countries to reduce their consumption of goods disposable plastic, such as shopping bags.
The developing countries must improve their waste management practices.
This is evident from the list that includes some of the countries that are growing rapidly and has a middle income who are experiencing acute difficulties.
“Now that economic growth is positive, but that you often see in developing countries are excluded waste management infrastructure. And rightly so because they are more concerned with getting clean drinking water and improve sanitation.
“But from the perspective of waste, I do not want them to forget about it because if forgotten management will only get worse,” said Dr. Jembeck.
This study shows that when the plastic waste is left, 17.5 million tons of plastic per year can enter the ocean in 2025. If the amount of plastic waste accumulated from this year until 2025, at least 155 million tons will be circulating in the ocean.
One of the other researchers, Roland Geyer of the University of California at Santa Barbara, said cleaning up the oceans of plastic waste is not possible.
“Stop throwing garbage into the sea from the start is the only solution. How can you clean plastic in the ocean floor that the average depth reaches 4,200 meters? ”
Original post at http://www.bbc.co.uk/indonesia/majalah/2015/02/150213_iptek_sampah_laut
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