Plastics

Plastic has penetrated everyday life, and the disadvantages of plastics are becoming more and more visible: large quantities of plastics leak into rivers and oceans, with adverse effects to marine ecosystems and related economic activities. This report is one of the first of its kind to quantify primary microplastics leakage and to demonstrate that these primary microplastics are globally responsible for a major source of plastics in the oceans.

Plastic debris has now become the most serious problem affecting the marine environment, not only for coastal areas of developing countries but also for the world's oceans as a whole. Drifiting plastic debris is well recognized as having several adverse effects on marine species and ecosystems, but there is still a lack of precise knowledge about the quantity, sources, transport, accumulation and fate of plastics in the oceans.