The message in the (plastic) bottle is dire Material absorbs pollutants and becomes part of the ecosystem By LISA STIFFLER P-I REPORTER
(Editor's Note: Sixty tons of plastic debris was collected from two Los Angeles rivers over three days in fall 2004 and spring 2005. The original version of this story incorrectly stated the amount collected.)
Curtis Ebbesmeyer is the king of ocean trash. He loves to stroll beaches searching for the oddities that wash ashore -- the 10-foot-tall Yogi Bear, pieces of plastic from the 1940s, and bottles and caps galore. This summer on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Ebbesmeyer found two large, weathered chunks of plastic of unknown origins measuring about 1 cubic foot. As he ran his hands along one's surface it disintegrated into a dusty powder. This, said the oceanographer, is how plastics break down and become a part of the ecosystem. The material doesn't biodegrade but rather undergoes a slow process of "photodegradation" as the sun breaks it into smaller and smaller pieces. Pollutants -- such as PCBs and the pesticide DDT -- can be absorbed by plastics like a sponge sopping up water. The chemicals might become concentrated a millionfold compared with the surrounding water, researchers say. Plastic can also contain chemicals that mimic natural hormones, which, like birth control pills, can cause male fish and birds to exhibit female traits. The presence of microscopic plastic "is just a new threat that has become visible and really looked at in the last five years, or 10 years," Ebbesmeyer said. He's been tracking the sea's woes for much longer. Over the past four decades, Ebbesmeyer has been a consultant on major public works, including multiple sewage treatment plants. He's sat on panels advising numerous state administrations. Recently, he's turned his focus from policy-makers to the Play-Doh set, working on a children's book about circumnavigating rubber duckies that were accidentally dumped by a cargo ship. The true-life tale emphasizes our global connections and impacts. But the ocean admittedly is a massive place, covering 71 percent of the planet. How can a 2-liter bottle here and a cigarette lighter there become such a problem?
Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
"All the food out in the sea has some plastic in it, is the conjecture. And that is a horrific conjecture," Curtis Ebbesmeyer, oceanographer and marine debris expert.
About 300 billion pounds of plastic are produced each year, said Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. That's 1,000 pounds for every American. And massive amounts of it are washing into the sea.
Swirling in the Pacific Ocean is an area of man-made trash the size of Texas. A few years ago Moore towed a fine mesh net like a giant cheesecloth through the area -- dubbed the "great garbage patch." The haul contained six times more plastic than plankton. "The quantities of plastics in the marine environment have gone up exponentially in the last decade," said Moore. His group did a study of two Los Angeles rivers in which he collected all of the trash floating out to sea over the course of three days in fall 2004 and spring 2005. They netted 60 tons of plastic. The trouble is that there's no effective way to remove the plastic pollution, whether it's in chunks or microscopic bits. Researchers say the solution is keeping it out of the water in the first place. And there's good reason to do so: It's on our dinner plates. "All the food out in the sea has some plastic in it, is the conjecture," Ebbesmeyer said. "And that is a horrific conjecture."