Where does the plastic in the sea come from?

The answer to this question is very easy, the plastic comes from us humans. We don´t need to throw the plastic directly into the seas, but it can be transported to the seas in other ways. We humans are very good at throwing garbage to the oceans, especially when we are on vacation, writes WWF. Which is most likely because tourists spend a lot of time on beaches where there are usually no garbage cans. Instead you leave the garbage lying and then you forget about it or the wind will take it.  

In fact, the plastic doesn´t have to be thrown directly into the oceans, most of the plastic comes from land. The plastic is transported from land to sea by rain, winds and other watercourses. (Naturskyddsföreningen, no date). When the plastic arrives to the sea it will stay there forever if no one picks it up in time (Granmar, 2017). You must pick it up in time because with mechanical attrition and sunlight, larger plastic objects are broken down into microplastics. Microplastics are smaller than 5 mm. (Stockholms universitet, 2017). 

But microplastics doesn´t only arise in the sea because of lager plastic objects that have been altered by sunlight and mechanical attrition. Microplastics are found directly in products that we humans use.  

According to Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, microplastics are released from clothes made of plastic, for example when you wash a fleece sweater. The water you use when you wash goes to the treatment plant were the water is purified. The treatment plant manages to filter some of the microplastics, but not all. So much of it goes directly out to the seas.  

But the water you use when you for example brush your teeth or are using a facescrub also goes to the treatment plant were the microplastics goes right to the sea. There are also microplastics in hygiene products, says the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. Between 13 and 40 tons of microplastics from only hygiene products ends up in the Baltic sea every year (Grammar,2017). According to the article "Snart mer plast än fisk" (Forskning.se, 2017), Marie Granmar writes that microplastics can also come from road and tire wear, boat bottom paints, artificial turf and industrial production. 

In summary, it´s humanities fault that the sea will have more plastic than fish in a couple of decades. Many products contain plastic that are commonly thought not to exist in, for example skin care products. Todays plastic consumption is huge and needs to be reduced to ensure that our oceans will not only consist of plastic.