Creatures in Mariana Trench are also feeding on our plastics

Humans are trashing their own planet. They are littering all over the place with plastic object they bought just for a single use. How long did you use that plastic bag you put your bananas in? Now it’s going to outlive you in the landfill. Hopefully, because otherwise it may end up in the ocean. Scientists from the Newcastle University say that it is likely that no marine ecosystems are left unaffected by pollution.

We tend to think that one day we will just gather together and pick up our trash. But how deep are you prepared to go? Scientists have just found microplastic ingestion by organisms in the Mariana trench – the deepest place in Earth’s oceans. Microplastics were found in five other areas with a depth of more than 6,000 metres. These dark, cold areas are as far away from human activity as you might imagine but we’ve done it – we’ve trashed them too. This just highlights the necessity to rethink our non-biodegradable substances in clothes, containers and packaging.

A lot of our trash, which is non-biodegradable, ends up in rivers. They break down there into tiny little pieces (microplastics) and flow into the oceans. Some of them do not even fall apart so easily and pretty much form islands of trash in the ocean. But not everything floats. A lot of these microplastics sink to the very depths of the seas. Now scientists have found evidence that then our microplastics are consumed by local organisms, affecting entire ecosystems. It is safe to say that there are no ecosystems on this Earth that are unaffected by our pollution at this point.

Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is a staggering 10,890 metres deep. It is completely dark, very cold and yet it is not completely devoid of life. It is one of the sights that scientists were interested in, but they checked several others, where they collected samples. Researchers examined 90 individual animals and found ingestion of plastic. All sorts of plastic – Nylon, PVC, PVA, Rayon, Lyocell, Ramie, polyethylene, polyamide and so on and so forth.

And the situation is going to continue getting worse. Once the trash sinks into these trenches, it doesn’t have anywhere else to go. So it just stays there or is consumed by various organisms. Dr Alan Jamieson, leader of the study, said: “If you contaminate a river, it can be flushed clean. If you contaminate a coastline, it can be diluted by the tides. But, in the deepest point of the oceans, it just sits there. It can’t flush and there are no animals going in and out of those trenches”.

So now what? Well, it’s nothing really to impact our way of life. We already know that we should limit our use of plastic and improve our waste management. You can contribute to that change as well – next time you’re in the grocery store ask yourself “Do I really need that extra bag?”

Source: Newcastle University