Plastic Pollution

DERT’s Inaugural Sound Stewards Cleanup By Matthew Karas, Program Coordinator

In October, DERT conducted our first Sound Stewards cleanup event along the shoreline of East Bay in downtown Olympia. A group of seven Stewards collected enough litter to fill four 5-Gallon buckets. While there were some large items that could not fit within the buckets, most of what we collected consisted of small debris. The most common items were cigarette butts and single-use food wrappers. 
We have been scouting our watershed in search of locations to conduct future cleanup events and have been pleasantly surprised, as most of the near shore areas visited are relatively free of large plastic debris. However, though large debris may not be abundant, plastic pollution in the form of micro and nano particles is pervasive. Microplastics, plastic particles smaller than 5mm, are often not visible to the naked eye, yet they have been discovered in the furthest reaches of the planet, from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest mountain peaks. Plastic particles are abundant in the water we drink, the food we eat, even in the air we breathe. 

There are tens of thousands of polymers used in plastic production, and plastics contain many additional chemicals in the form of fillers, stabilizers, pigments, flame retardants, lubricants, and plasticizers. Plastics leach these chemicals into the environment and living tissues of organisms¹. In addition to acting as vectors that transport the chemical additives from production, plastics also absorb chemicals and pathogens as they travel through the environment. We now know that plastics do not simply pass through living organisms, but rather enter and remain within cells and tissues, causing inflammation and disease. Small plastic particles can pass through the gut lining or enter our respiratory system and wreak havoc. Campanale et al. review a number of studies investigating the various pathways that nano- and microplastics enter human bodies and the potential impacts on our health¹. The full biological impact of micro and nanoplastics is unknown, and more research is needed, yet it is certain that they cause some measure of harm. Other studies investigate the impact of microplastics on zooplankton². Botterell et. al review numerous studies that reveal a significant impact on feeding behavior, reproduction, growth, development, and lifespan.

While it feels great to organize a group of volunteers to remove litter before it enters our waterway, it is a minuscule impact when considering the torrent of plastic entering our environment on a daily basis. The amount of plastics produced increases each year, with nearly 400 million metric tons currently being produced annually, much of which is single-use. It is estimated that 4.8 to 12.7 million tons of this plastic enters the marine environment².

As consumers, our ability to mitigate the harm of plastic pollution is rather limited. Many of us feel trapped within an unjust system that incentivizes companies to profit from plastic production without paying a penny for the pollution created. Real change demands that producers are held accountable for plastic pollution. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a form of product stewardship that requires producers to reduce the negative impacts of their products on the economy, environment, and public health. Two feature of EPR are “(1) shifting financial and management responsibility, with government oversight, upstream to the producer and away from the public sector; and (2) providing incentives to producers to incorporate environmental considerations into the design of their products and packaging”³. 

DERT is working on plastic pollution in a several ways: 

• cleanup events that remove plastic debris from nearshore environments before they enter local water bodies, 
• organizing students at Saint Martin’s University and SPSCC who are conducting microplastic research,
• educating community members on the prevalence and impact of plastic pollution,  
• organizing letter writing campaigns advocating for legislative action on plastic pollution.

Sources

1. Campanale, C., Massarelli, C., Savino, I., Locaputo, V., & Uricchio, V.F. (2020). A Detailed Review Study on Potential Effects of Microplastics and Additives of Concern on Human Health. Environmental Research and Public Health
2. Botterell, Z., Beaumont, N., Dorrington, T., Steinke, M., Thompson, R., & Lindeque, P. (2018). Bioavailability and effects of microplastics on marine zooplankton: A Review. Environmental Pollution.
3. Product Policy Institute – Product Stewardship and Extended Producer Responsibility
4. Thompson, A. (2018). Earth Has a Hidden Plastic Problem – Scientists are Hunting it Down. Scientific American.