'So it's likely that this styrene pollutant is prevalent throughout the water column and not just at the surface.'Īlong with Moore, David Barnes, a marine ecologist from the British Antarctic Survey, doesn't think the Japanese team's lab results can be applied uniformly across the ocean, however. Once Styrofoam, for example, breaks down, the tiny polystyrene components start to sink, because they're heavier than water, Moore said. Now, it seems, they also face the invisible threat of toxic, plastic-derived chemicals. And 267 marine species are affected by plastic garbage-animals are known to swallow plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish in mid-ocean, for example-according to a 2008 study in the journal Environmental Research by oceanographer and chemist Charles Moore, of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

(Related: 'Giant Ocean-Trash Vortex Attracts Explorers.') Plastic Breaks Down FastĪbout 44 percent of all seabirds eat plastic, apparently by mistake, sometimes with fatal effects. The pollutants are likely to be more concentrated in areas heavily littered with plastic debris, such as ocean vortices, which occur where currents meet.

Left behind in the water were the same compounds detected in the ocean samples, such as styrene trimer, a polystyrene by-product, and bisphenol A, a chemical used in hard plastics such as reusable water bottles and the linings of aluminum cans.īisphenol A (BPA) has been shown to interfere with the reproductive systems of animals, while styrene monomer is a suspected carcinogen. The scientists later simulated the decomposition of polystyrene in the sea and found that it degraded at temperatures of 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius). The toxic compounds the team found don't occur naturally in the ocean, and the researchers thought plastic was the culprit. Plastic, he said, should be considered a new source of chemical pollution in the ocean. The Japan-based team collected samples in waters from the U.S., Europe, India, Japan, and elsewhere, lead researcher Katsuhiko Saido, a chemist with the College of Pharmacy at Nihon University in Japan, said via email.Īll the water samples were found to contain derivatives of polystyrene, a common plastic used in disposable cutlery, Styrofoam, and DVD cases, among other things, said Saido, who presented the findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., today. The researchers behind a new study, however, found that plastic breaks down at cooler temperatures than expected, and within a year of the trash hitting the water.

Scientists had previously thought plastics broke down only at very high temperatures and over hundreds of years. The team's new study is the first to show that degrading plastics are leaching potentially toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A into the seas, possibly threatening ocean animals, and us. And, the researchers say, that's not a good thing. You can find more great, simple options here.Though ocean-borne plastic trash has a reputation as an indestructible, immortal environmental villain, scientists announced yesterday that some plastics actually decompose rapidly in the ocean. To fix this, maybe it would be best to go back to paper bags for our shopping needs. Instead, there are now tiny microplastics being scattered around the world.

In other words, there may not be a plastic bag floating in the wind or oceans. It simply becomes brittle, causing the bag to break down into tiny plastic pieces. Polyethylene in plastic bags does not biodegrade. If it’s baking in the sun, the bag could break down a lot sooner (i.e., 10 years) than a plastic bag that’s hidden from the sun (i.e., 1,000 years).Įven if it takes 10 years, this is still concerning. It all depends on how much ultraviolet radiation a plastic bag gets from the sun. But if it takes only 10 years, that’s not so bad– is it? So, what about plastic bags, how long do they take to decompose? How long does it take a plastic bag to decompose?

Does plastic break down