RESEARCH PAPER: FRIDA SOFIA CASAÑA 1

Frida Sofia Casaña

Research Paper

Our Silent Killer

RWS 1302 Thursday

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Introduction

As a lot of people may have noticed, water has been greatly contaminated not only

chemically but also with human waste plastic. Plastic has been taking over our water masses by

contaminating it and even being a threat to marine species. Water pollution is the contamination

of bodies of water such as oceans and rivers, whereas, plastic pollution is a branch of water

pollution that involves the contamination of water with plastics that will take hundreds of years

to breakdown. This type of pollution is one of the most serious ecological problems we are

facing as of today. Since most of us drink purified water, we may think that water pollution

doesn’t affect us directly but in reality, plastic pollution is affecting us in many ways.

Plastic pollution has been capturing the medias eyes when we started to see the damages

caused by plastic. There are now patches full of trash such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

that hold tons and tons of plastic waste. These plastics lying in the ocean is killing whales,

sharks, seals, sea turtles, corals...etc. when they become stuck or ingest the plastic and debris

causing them to asphyxiate and eventually die.

Plastic pollution is caused by all the plastic products consumed but are not properly

disposed. Plastic pollution is not just caused by the use of straws but it is caused by all the plastic

products we use daily such as plastic bags, toothbrushes, plastic cups, disposable dishes and all

the packages where we get of products from. Cutting out plastic from our everyday life and

picking up the plastic already contaminating the ocean are some easy examples to significantly

help solve the plastic pollution problem. Even though at first it may not seem easy to stop using

plastic, there are many alternatives to products made with plastic, for example metal straws,

bamboo toothbrushes and hair brushes, glass containers, reusable plastic bags and water bottles.
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In this research paper, I will be talking about the dangers of plastic pollution and how it

affects not only us humans but marine life as well. For my methodology study, I will be using a

quantitative study that will help me gather data by passing out surveys to different groups of

people.

Literature Review

Over the past few years ocean pollution has been catching the eye of the news, with the

problem growing more and more by the day people have decided to inform the audience about

the situation. Plastic pollution has been affecting our environment, oceans, great lakes, and even

us. Plastic, something we use in our everyday life can be so harmful to so many species but us

humans aren’t aware of the extent of the problem. If our waters are contaminated that means that

we are unable to consume the water in any form or way, the produce we rely on will now be

contaminated and dangerous for us humans to consume. Earth is made of mainly water meaning

that if we have contaminated a big majority of that water we are left with a limited amount of

water for us to consume and live off. We are left with the question of what impact does plastic

have on the environment and us?

The main reason why plastic pollution has been affecting our environment is because the

plastic we are consuming has not been degrading or does not degrade. Meaning that the items of

plastic that lie in the ocean take hundreds of years to completely dissolve. However, there is a lot

of plastic material that never degrade and end up laying on the surface of the ocean in the form

of tiny plastic pieces called debris also known as micro plastics. Debris is extremely dangerous

because the tiny particles of plastic are eaten by fish and remain in their system. Once the small

particles of debris are ingested by the fish we end up consuming the tiny particles of plastic since

we consume the fish. Debris is not only harmful and humans but it is extremely dangerous to
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filter feeders such as whale sharks and whales. According to Tilley (2018) P.x “marine filter

feeders are likely to be at risk because they need to swallow hundreds to thousands of cubic

meters of water daily to capture plankton. They can ingest micro plastics directly from polluted

water or indirectly through contaminated prey." By ingesting all these micro plastics, filter

feeder’s mammals are also ingesting the toxic chemicals that these pieces of plastic release.

Micro plastics have also been found in tap water all around the world. Tap water samples

showed that approximately about eighty three percent of the tap water was contaminated with

micro plastics, and, The United States was the country with the highest percent of micro plastic

in their tap water with a rate of ninety four percent as stated by (Carrington, 2017) P.x. As you

can see the plastic that “degrades” ends up in micro plastics that soon are ingested by fish and

end up in our tap water.

Oceanographers have informed the audience that about seventy percent of micro plastics

actually sink into the bottom of the ocean, meaning that the seafloor is also covered in debris it is

not just floating on top of the ocean. Studies have not yet to find the actual amount of plastic that

lies in the bottom of the ocean but they roughly estimate that about eighty percent of the debris

that lies in the ocean come from human activities, oil spills, boats and cargo ships. These ships

dump debris into the ocean. Furthermore, approximately around seven hundred and five

thousand of debris is composed of actually fishing nets, plastics, straws, shoes, toys and even

computer monitors. Since there are different kinds of trash in the ocean, plastic is the main one

since it is very durable and when they do break down they just become smaller parts. (Andres et

al, 2014) P.x.

Plastic pollution does not only affect the marine mammals and humans but plastic

pollution takes a great toll on coral reefs. The plastic has various ways of damaging the coral
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reefs, the plastic that is dumped in the ocean such as plastic bags and nets end up tangling

themselves on the corals. According to (Garisto, 2018) P.x. Reefs littered with plastic were at

least 20 times as likely to have diseased corals as unpolluted reefs, also corals have pits that are

like pores that become infected by the bacteria that the plastic is carrying with it. These microbes

can start to colonize the whole coral reefs and damage it or bleach it. When corals are bleached it

means they are stripped down from all their properties and are dead. Even though we might not

see corals as having an impact on our lives, corals actually produce approximately about 30

percent of the oxygen we intake meaning that if the coral reefs are dying due to the plastic.

The Great Coral Reef the biggest coral reef in the ocean in currently endangered due to

bleaching caused from plastic pollution. As (Greenwood, 2018,) P.x “performed a study that

shows that they estimate that reefs across the Asia-Pacific region are littered with more than 11

billion pieces of plastic larger than 5 centimeters. If those pieces were lined up next to each

other, they would reach around the Earth nearly 14 times, at the very least. To make matters

worse, corals with plastic on them were 20 times more likely to be diseased than those that were

not polluted.” As you can see the amount of plastic that lies in these corals reefs has reached

epidemic levels. Since coral reefs are not seen by a big population of the public many don’t

know that under the water there is more plastic that can’t be seen in the exterior of the ocean.

Studies have predicted that if we don’t make an effort to clean up our ocean or begin to use eco-

friendly methods there will be approximately “11.1 billion pieces, which they project will

increase to 15.7 billion in the next seven years, as worldwide plastics entering the ocean are

projected to increase tenfold” (Greenwood, 2018) P.x.

Plastic pollution has taken such a huge toll on the ocean that scientist have gone out and

can’t seem to find one area or habitat that isn’t contaminated by plastic. People may not see a
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problem with using one straw for their drink one time but they don’t come to think that everyone

on this earth is using only one straw per drink. One straw per drink, for about four drinks a day

for every inhabitant on this earth builds up to being approximately 500 million straws per day if

not more (Barone, 2017) P.x adds that “Jenna Jambeck at the University of Georgia and other

researchers calculated that at least 3 million tons of plastic trash are swept into the ocean from

coasts every year. That’s the equivalent of a full garbage truck of plastic being dumped into the

sea every minute. If current trends in plastic production and disposal continue, that figure will

double by 2025”. This statement shows that by 2025 there will be more plastic in the ocean than

fish. With all this information, we can begin to understand that not by only not using straws

anymore the ocean is going to go back to normal. Plastic is everywhere in your Starbucks coffee

cups, in food packings, in water bottles, in everything. It is important for us to begin to learn how

to live without plastic before it contaminates to the point of no return. All the items we use in our

everyday lives without thinking are making a negative impact on marine life, coral reefs,

drinkable water and our health. Plastic bottles take approximately 450 years to just break down

not fully decompose, aluminum cans take around 200 years, plastic bags take around 20 years. In

order to be able to clean up our ocean we are going to have to begin to live a plastic free life

because even with recycling plastic only a very small amount of the trash is actually properly

recycled.

This plastic that lies in the ocean is also very dangerous to marine life because big

mammals such as whales, whale sharks, seals, dolphins, turtles, sharks and many more become

entangled in these nets. Once they become tangled in these nets they swim around with them

until they begin to cause cuts all around the animal’s body. These nets also capture animals and

many aren’t able to escape or even move. Plastic bags are a huge problem because turtles and
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other small mammals mistake jellyfish for plastic bags so they end up eating the plastic bags and

choking on them. As (Barone, 2017) P.x explains that even if the animals don’t choke on the

plastic they ingest the plastic. When they ingest the plastic, these animals are stuffing their

stomachs with plastic until they die from the big amount of plastic they have been holding in

their stomachs.

With all this plastic lying in our water masses you are probably wondering how we will

be able to fix this problem before we are left with more plastic than fish in the ocean. Currently

there is a project called The Ocean Cleanup where they are using designated machines that pass

fine nets that collect all the plastic, trash and debris from the ocean. According to (Cleanup, n.d.)

P.x they are working by using specialized technology that will remove the plastic debris that lies

in the ocean. The systems they are using are estimated to remove half of the Great Pacific

Garbage Patch in approximately five years. They created a pipe that is made of polyethylene, this

pipe will catch the plastic. They are using the natural movement of the ocean in order for the

plastic to be pulled in to the pipes. These floating pipes are designed to remove small plastic

particles all the way to fishing nets. Studies show that the clean-up project should clean up about

fifty percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in approximately five years. It is estimated that

the ocean will be free of water pollution by the year of 2050 if we all help cleanup and change

our lifestyles.

It is evident that plastic pollution is affecting our world by killing marine life and

animals, contaminating our water, ocean produce. Let’s be part of the solution not the pollution,

save the ocean.

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Methodology

For my methodology, I will be performing a quantitative study, in this study I am going

to divide my 50 participants into 5 groups. The 5 groups are going to be 10 surfers, 10

vegans/vegetarians, 10 UTEP students, 10 meat eaters, and 10 adults. The reason on why I will

be dividing my participants is because I want to have the feedback from several different groups

so my data is not biased towards one specific group. I choose to gather data from a group pf

surfers because I believe they will have more experience with the plastic that lies in the ocean

because they spend most of their time in the ocean. I also decided to gather data from vegans or

vegetarians because I believe they are going to be more conscious of the environment. I choose

meat eaters as another participant group because I want to compare the data from the

vegan/vegetarian eaters to the meat eaters, this will show if diet has any influence in the use of

plastic. I choose both adults and UTEP students to compare data and see if age has any influence

in the point of view of plastic use.

I will be performing these surveys both online and in person, the reason I am going to

perform surveys online is for people I can’t directly contact in person such as the surfers. In

person, I am going to personally hand out the surveys for UTEP students and the rest of my

participants. For the surveys, I would email the survey to the surfers because I can’t fly out to

personally give them to them. For my vegan/vegetarian participants I would ask them to fill the

survey out in a vegan restaurant. For the UTEP students I would meet them in campus so the

survey doesn’t turn into an inconvenience. For the meat eaters’ participants, I will give them

their surveys anywhere, and lastly for the adult category I will email them and ask where they

would want me to meet them.

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The questions for my survey are:

1. Approximately how many straws do you use per day?

2. Do you use a reusable water bottle?

3. Have you seen first-hand ocean pollution?

4. Do you think plastic pollution is a threat to our future?

5. Do you think plastic pollution affects drinking water?

6. Is plastic pollution affecting where you live? If yes, specify how.

7. Are you vegan, vegetarian, or do you follow any special diets? If no, specify why.

___________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion

It is evident that water pollution is a big problem facing our world today. The Great

Pacific Garbage Patch is the leading cause for the contamination of the Pacific Ocean, the

contamination of the fish, and the deaths of many marine animals. As stated earlier the solution

to this issue is to stop using plastic and helping to clean up the ocean. Although this solution will

be beneficial we still have the issue that it will be completely effective until 2050. So, get out

there and help clean up the ocean.

Something that can be used as a great take away from all of this research is that although

this is such a massive problem, the solution can be looked at as quite simple. When you look at

the general topic as a whole, you can see that the main cause of all of this pollution in the ocean

is humans. Humans have the ability to make their own choices and those choices have a direct
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impact on everything around them including the environment. If more people around the world

make the conscious choice to get their resources from things that do not contain plastic, or just

stop buying or using plastic in general, there would in return, be much less plastic being disposed

into the ocean.

Perhaps when more people become more aware of all of the negative effects that plastic

has not only on the environment and the animals that live in it, but on themselves, they will put

more effort in trying to better the problem. A big reason as to why so many people are okay with

dumping all of this plastic and waste into the ocean is due to pure ignorance. They are clearly not

aware of the fact that although the plastic winds up in the ocean, which they do not live in,

anything that they consume that comes directly from the ocean such as fish or water is absorbing

all of the plastic and chemicals which allows them to ingest them as well. In the end, every

living organism on the planet is being negatively impacted by plastic waste in the ocean.
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References

Amos, A. F. (2003). Pollution of the Ocean by Plastic and Trash. Gale. Retrieved from http://0-

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400255&site=eds-live&scope=site

Andrés, C., Fidel, E., J. Ignacio, G., Xabier, I., Bárbara, Ú., Santiago, H., & ... Carlos M., D.

(2014). Plastic debris in the open ocean. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of

Sciences Of The United States Of America, (28), 10239. doi:10.1073/pnas.1314705111

Barone, J. (2017). An Ocean of Plastic. Science World, 73(11), 8. Retrieved from http://0-

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Brander, S. M., Fontana, R. E., Mata, T. M., Gravem, S. A., Hettinger, A., Bean, J. R., … Marrero,

M. E. (2011). The Ecotoxicology of Plastic Marine Debris. American Biology Teacher

(National Association of Biology Teachers), 73(8), 474–478.

https://doi.org/10.1525/abi.2011.73.89

Bubar, J. (2016). Waves of Trash. (cover story). Scholastic News -- Edition 5/6, 84(20), 4.

Cleanup, W. T. (n.d.). Technology. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/technology

Carrington, D. (2017, September 05). Plastic fibers found in tap water around the world, study

reveals. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-

fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals
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Garisto, D. (2018). Coral reefs are sick of plastic. Science News, 193(4), 4. Retrieved from http://0-

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Greenwood, V. (2018). Billions of Plastic Pieces Litter Coral in Asia and Australia. The New York

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Pereira, S. (2018). Bacteria That Hitch Rides on Toothbrushes, Diapers and Other Plastic Pollution

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people can do something about it. Newsweek, (7). Retrieved from http://0-

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Tilley, K. (2018). Micro plastics a “risk to filter feeders.” Plastics News, 28(47), 0021. Retrieved

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