Ocean Pollution: Plastic

Questions

1. What is meant by ocean debris?
2. How much debris winds up in the oceans each year?
3. What is plastic? How is it made?
4. Why is plastic trash a problem?

Lecture Notes

• Powerpoint Slides
• Powerpoint Slides (large)

News Articles

• Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010)
• PBS: World's Oceans Face Problem of Plastic Pollution
• Ocean Life Illuminated the Perils of Pollution
• Plastic Breaks Down in Ocean, After All -- And Fast
• Video: Edith Widder
• Plastic in Our Oceans: Blog
• Raising Awareness of Plastic Waste

Background Information

• Types of Plastic
• Marine Debris (NOAA)
• Marine Debris FAQs (NOAA)
• Mapping the Other 70 Percent
• Charles Moore: Sailing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
• Planet 100: The Pacific Trash Vortex Explained
• What is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?
• Project Kaisei: Capturing the Plastic Vortex
• NOAA: Ocean Pollution
• National Geographic Photo Gallery: Ocean Pollution
• When the Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide
• Plastic Recycling Codes
• Plastic Recycling Codes Handout
• We Can Recylce Plastic
• Chicago Recycling Coalition
• The Economic Injustic of Plastic
• Chris Jordon pictures some shocking stats
• Why Recycle?

Demonstrations

1. Making Nylon from Adipoyl chloride and hexane 1,6-diamine
2. Homemade Plastic
3. How Plastic Bags are Made
4. How Toothbrushes are Made

Take Away (Main) Points

1. Plastic debris is accumulating in the Pacific Ocean due to swirling water currents called gyres.
2. The main types of plastic are polymers with bonds that resist breaking down and may last for hundreds of years.
3. Some types of plastic may be recycled.
4. 80% of the plastic in the ocean originates on land.
5. Plastic has been found tangled around animals and inside them.
6. Humans make and use plastic.
7. Plastic is made from starting materials that are from the processing of petroleum products.
8. Biodegradable plastics do exist but they are relatively new on the market.