Plastics Monitoring Project
Plastic in the environment is a growing environmental concern. 20% of all manufactured plastic makes it neither to a landfill or a recycling unit. Recent research by the Algalita Research Foundation indicates that some of this plastic is accumulating in major ocean currents. Determining how much plastic is in the environment and where it is going is extremely important because of the hazard it poses to ecosystems.
Plastic fragments and films are ingested by marine organisms, leading to either choking, illness, or starvation. Marine animals can become entangled in large pieces of loose fishing gear. Additionally, plastic is not biodegradable. It can be proken down into smaller and smaller bits, but once it gets down to the molecular level, the chemicals remain in the environment. These can then both build up in animal tissue, and mimic natural hormones. Eventually, plastic chemicals can bioaccumulate through the food web and reach human populations.
PTMSC staff and volunteers visited five beaches around Puget Sound: Fort Worden, Alki Beach, Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal, Golden Garden, and Fort Flagler. Three sediment samples were taken from three different sites along each beach. Each sample consisted of 10 liters of sediment taken from a 1 meter square area. Large pieces of plastic (greater than 5 mm) were picked out of the sample. The samples were then put through a 5 mm large mesh sieve, and then a 1 mm small mesh sieve. Thus, each sample was organized into two sets by size, the first being all material larger than 5 mm, the second being material between 1 and 5 mm.
Back at PTMSC’s Discovery Lab, each sample set was sorted, first to separate all organic material from nonorganic, and then to separate the nonorganic material by plastic type. The categories and their descriptions are as follows:
Pellets |
Pre-production plastic pellets, also called “nurdles.” |
Fragments |
Pieces of hard plastic debris that is unrecognizable. |
Films |
Plastic debris, such as pieces of bags or wrappers. |
Foam |
Styrofoam and insulation. |
Filament |
Fishing line, rope, or synthetic cloth. |
Cigarette parts |
Cigarette butts and filters. |
Other |
Glass, rubber, and metal. |
After the second round of sorting, a count and a total weight was found for each category. Follow the link below to view some of the graphic results from this first sampling session.
For more information, or to request a copy of the raw data, please contact: info@ptmsc.org