Plastic bags

In our seas there are several million tons of plastic and the amount increases all the time. It takes about 10-20 years for a regular plastic bag to break down. However, the plastic bags only turn into microplastics. After that, it takes at least 100 years for the microplastics to break down, if it breaks down at all. The fish and aquatic animals eat plastic because they think that it is food. Old fishnets that fishermen have not taken up are also a big trap for animals such as fish and turtles.

But it is not only the animals in the sea that are affected by the plastics. Among other things, the seabed, beaches and plants are also affected. Everything is affected in some way by the increasing level of plastics. How can we, as individuals, help the oceans? In this text it will be addressed several different ways how you as an individual can help the sea and keep it clean.

All marine species today contains different amounts of microplastics. Microplastics that we spread completely unconsciously. You may not even know which products contains microplastics and which does not. A lot of the toiletries we use every day contain just that. We wash it off with water and it goes down the drain and there many believe that our responsibility ends. Many people think that all the dirt in the water disappears inside our treatment plants. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Some of the microplastics that were in your toothpaste manage to slip through the filters and end up out in the sea. Car tyres and artificial grass pitches also release plastics that flow directly into our lakes and streams. Things you can do to reduce microplastics are to use hygiene and beauty items that do not contain plastics and go by other carrier than cars, to reduce wear on the car tyres. (Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, 2017)

If the microplastics had been our only problem with plastic, it would have been easier to solve. But there are also other kinds of plastic that harms the animals and plants. Plastic bags, plastic crates and packages, clothes made of plastic and a lot of other things containing plastic. It is believed that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050 if we do nothing about it. (WWF, 2018).

WWF is an organization that works to help animals and the environment to feel well. Their homepage has a lot of information and you can read about topics that you want to know more about. There are also short films to explain more easily how we affect the earth and all living things. The information taken from WWF's website to this text is from 2018 and is therefore relevant in the subject.

The plastic bags floating around in the oceans may not even be from us. Either they come from other countries or they could have been in the water for a long time. It could be your grandparents' plastic bags still floating around. Companies located near the coast are also a contributing factor to the fact that different plastic objects end up in the seas.

It is difficult to understand how much plastic there really is in the seas. Scientists don't know either, but it is believed that there are about 150 million tons of plastic in our oceans. There have been various attempts to calculate how much plastic that ends up in the seas each year. Research shows that every year about 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our waters. (The Keep Sweden tidy foundation, undated)

When you think that you should help the seas, many people may think that you should donate money to different organizations. But there's so much more that you can do. For example, there are a lot of disposables that end up in the sea. It can be anything from disposable cups to tops. Therefore, as a private individual, the use of disposable plastic items should be reduced. For this to happen, the EU has voted for a ban. The law will enter into force in 2021 and will mean that you can no longer sell straws and other plastic items. But it also aims for 90% of all PET bottles to be recycled by 2029 and that 30% of the bottles will be made of recycled materials by 2030. (Nike Rydberg, Expressen, 2019)

Maybe it's hard to know what to do. But everyone can do something. They often say that we should stop using plastic bags when we shop and instead use cloth bags. But that is not sustainable because it takes a lot of water to produce cotton. It has been concluded that you need to use a cloth bag produced with organic cotton about 20,000 times for it to complement the plastic bag. (Aftonbladet, 2019)

Finally, studies show that the break-down plastic bags developed by researchers do not break down as quickly as you might think. This means that it will still take a long time for the bags to degrade and it is better for the environment if we instead would reuse the bags that already exist. (Agnes Faxen, Radio Sweden, 2019). One thing is certain and that is that there are many ways to help the oceans. Whether it's to drive less car or stop using disposable plastic products. Next time you buy toothpaste or skin care products, it might be worth finding out if the product contains microplastics, for both the environment and your own sake.