0 6 .

2 0 I 8

NATIONAI
GEOGRAPHIC

' PLANET OR
PLASTIC? 18 billíon pounds of
plastic ends up in
the ocean each year.
And thafs just the
tip of the iceberg.
"Plastics aren't inherently
bad. Ws whal we do,
ordon'[ do, with them
that coiints."

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC/USA 06/2018

VKP D, A : 6,95 € / CH: 8,50 sfr

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4 195659 506952
J U N E FROM THE EDITOR
POLLUTION
The Plastic Apocalypse
BY S U S A N G O L D B E R G
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a It's h a r d to get your head a r o u n d
man adds t o a m o u n t a i n o f the story of plastic. The facts and
d i s c a r d e d plastic b o t t l e s . figures are so staggering as to seem
W i t h this issue, N a t i o n a l
almost fantastical.
G e o g r a p h i c invites o t h e r
i n s t i t u t i o n s t o j o i n us in Can it really be true that half the
r e d u c i n g plastic use. Watch plastic ever made was produced i n
t h i s space f o r u p d a t e s . the past 15 years? That a trillion plas-
tic bags are used worldwide each year,
with an average "working life" of just 15
minutes? And that estimates for how
long plastic endures range from 450
years to forever?
The answer, unfortunately, is yes—
those grim facts, and more, are ali tme.
T h a f s w h y we asked writer Laura
Parker and photographer Randy Olson
SOME PEOPLE to put this global crisis i n perspective.
DENY CLIMATE Plastics, of course, are a great thing.
CHANGE, BUT As Parker writes, they helped the Allies
T H E R E ARE NO w i n World War I I , "eased travei into
OCEAN PLASTIC space, and revolutionized medicine...
In airbags, incubators, helmets, or sim-
DENIERS. THE
ply by delivering clean drinking water
PROBLEM'S I N to poor people in those now demonized
PLAIN SIGHT. disposable bottles, plastics save lives
daily." And yet, as Olson's jaw-dropping
photos show, we have created a plastic
apocalypse. Developed nations off-load
waste from our convenient lifestyle
and foist the cleanup on some of the
planefs most vulnerable people.
The good news is, this can be fixed,
and National Geographic wants to do its
part. Thafs why, if you're a U.S. or U.K.
subscriber, this mon±'s issue arrived in
a paper rather than plastic wrapper. This
change will save more than 2.5 million
single-use plastic bags every month.
A n d t h a f s just the b e g i n n i n g .
National Geographic is committed to
making an impact on this topic. We're
working to revamp plastic usage across
our businesses and to recruit other
groups and individuais to join us.
Will a paper wrapper save the planet?
Well, no. But i f s an example of the kind
of relatively easy action that every com-
pany, every government, and every
person can take. And when you put it
together, that adds up to real change.
RANDY O L S O N
 J

'»'

150 years ago

we created
a líghtweight,
strong, and

BY LAURA PARKER PHOTOGRAPHS BY R A N D Y OLSON

40 NATIONAt GEOGRAPHIC
 of a plastic bag
Is 15 minutes.

TEVE GALLAGHER
Plastic bottles chol<e
the Cibeles fountain,
outside C i t y hall in
central Madrid. An art
collective called Luz-
interruptus filled this
and two other Madrid
fountains with 60,000
discarded bottles last
fali as a way of calling
attention to the envi-
ronmental innpact of
disposable plastics.

PREVIOUS PHOTO

Aftersheets of clear
plastic trash have been
washed in the Buri-
ganga River, in Dhal<a,
Bangladesh, Noorjahan
spreads them out to dry,
turning them regularly-
while also tending to
her son, Momo. The
plastic will eventually
be sold to a recycler.
Less than a fifth of ali
plastic gots rocyclod
qlobally In tho U.S. It's
lessthan 10 percant.
 If plastic had been invented when the
Pilgrlms sailed from Plymouth, England,
to North America-and the Mayflower
had been stocked with bottled water
and plastic-wrapped snacl(s-their plastic trash
wou d likely still be around, four centuries later.
I f the Pilgrims had been Hke many people today
and simply tossed their empty bottles and wrap-
pers over the side, Atlantic waves and sunlight
w o i i l d have w o r n ali t h a t plastic i n t o t i n y bits.
And those bits m i g h t still be floating around the
world's oceans today, sponging u p toxins to add
to the ones already i n t h e m , w a i t i n g to be eaten
by some hapless fish or oyster, and u l t i m a t e l y
perhaps by one of us.
We should give thanks that the Pilgrims didn't
have plastic, I thought recently as I rode a train to
P l y m o u t h along England's south coast. I was o n
. m y way to see a m a n w h o w o u l d help me make
sense of the whole mess weVe made w i t h plastic,
especially i n the ocean.
Because plastic wasn't invented u n t i l the late
I 9 t h century, a n d p r o d u c t i o n really o n l y t o o k
off around 19S0, we have a mere 9.2 b i l l i o n tons
of the stuff to deal w i t h . Of that, more t h a n 6.9
b i l l i o n tons have b e c o m e waste. A n d o f t h a t
waste, a staggering 6.3 b i l l i o n tons never made
it to a recycling b i n — a figure t h a t s t u n n e d the
scicntists w h o crunched the numbers i n 2017.
No one knows how m u c h unrecycled plastic
waste ends u\i in lhe ocean, líarths last sink. i n
20i,s, Jenna .lanibeck, a U n i v c r s i t y of (Icori^ia
engineering professor, caught everyone's atten-
t i o n w i t h a rough estimate: between s.3 m i l l i o n
a n d 14 m i l l i o n tons each year just f r o m coastal
regions. Most of it isn't t h r o w n off ships, she and
her colleagues say, b u t is d u m p e d carelessly o n
land or i n rivers, mostly i n Asia. It's then blown or
washed into the sea. Imagine five plastic grocery
bags stuffed w i t h plastic trash, Jambeck says, sit-
ting on every foot of coastíine around the w o r l d —
that w o u l d correspond to about 8.8 m i l l i o n tons,
her middle-of-the-road estimate of what the ocean
gets from us annually. It's unclear how long it w i l l
take for that plastic to completely biodegrade into
its constituent molecules. Estimates range f r o m
450 years to never.
Meanwhile, ocean plastic is estimated to k i l l To ride currents,
m i l l i o n s o f m a r i n e animais every year. Nearly sealiorses clutch drift-
700 species, i n c l u d i n g endangered ones, are ing seagrass or other
natural debris. In
k n o w n to have been affected b y i t . Some are the polluted waters
h a r m e d visibly—strangled by abandoned fish- off the Indonesian
ing nets or discarded stx-pack rings. M a n y more island of Sumbawa,
this seahorse latched
are probably harmed invisibly. Marine species of onto a plastic cotton
ali sizes, f r o m zooplankton to whales, now cat swab-"a photo
microplastics, the bits smaller than one l i i t h of I wish didn't exist,"
says photographer
an inch across. On Hawaiis Big Islaiiil, on a I h m c I i Justin Hofmin,
lhal seeiningly should h;ivc Ix-cn p r i s l i n c no
p a v e d r o a d leads to i t — I w a l k e d ankle-deep
through microplastics. They crunched like
Rice Krispies under m y feet. After that, I could
understand w h y some people see ocean plastic
as a l o o m i n g catastrophe, w o r t h m e n t i o n i n g i n
the same breath as climate change. At a global
s u m m i t i n N a i r o b i last December, the head of
the U n i t e d Nations E n v i r o n m e n t Programme
spoke of an "ocean Armageddon."
A n d yet there's a key difference: Ocean plastic
is n o t as complicated as climate change. There
are no ocean trash deniers, at least so far. To do
something about it, we don't have to remake our
planefs entire energy system.
" T h i s isn't a p r o b l e m where we d o n ' t k n o w
w h a t the s o l u t i o n is," says T e d Siegler, a Ver-
m o n t resource economist w h o has spent more
t h a n 25 years w o r k i n g w i t h developing nations
on garbage. "We k n o w how to pick u p garbage.
Anyone can do it. We k n o w how to dispose of it.
We know how to recycle." I f s a matter of building
the necessary institutions and systems, he says—
ideally before the ocean turns, irretrievably and
for centuries to come, into a t h i n soup of plastic.
IN P L Y M O U T H , U N D E R T H E G R A Y g l o o m of aU
English a u t u m n , Richard Thompson waited
i n a yellow slicker outside P l y m o u t h Universi-
ty's Coxside M a r i n e Station, at the edge o f the
harbor. A lean m a n o f 54, w i t h a s m o o t h pate
r i m m e d w i t h gray hair, T h o m p s o n was headed
for an o r d i n a r y career as a m a r i n e ecologist i n
1993—he was w o r k i n g o n a Ph.D. on limpets and
microalgae that grow on coastal rocks—when he
participated i n his first beach cleanup, on the Isle
of M a n . W h i l e other volunteers zoomed i n o n
the plastic bottles and bags and nets, Thompson
focused o n the small stuff, the t i n y particles that
lay underfoot, ignored, at the h i g h tide line. At
first he wasn't even sure they were plastic. He
had to consult forensic chemists to c o n f i r m i t .
There was a real m y s t e r y to be solved back
then, at least i n academic circles: Scientists won-
dered w h y they weren't finding even more plas-
tic i n the sea. W o r l d p r o d u c t i o n has increased
e x p o n e n t i a l l y — f r o m 2.3 m i l l i o n tons i n 1950, i t
grew to 162 m i l l i o n i n 1993 and to 448 m i l l i o n by
2015—but the a m o u n t of plastic d r i f t i n g o n the
ocean and washing up o n beaches, a l a r m i n g as
it was, didn't seem to be rising as fast. "That begs
the question: Where is it?" Thompson said. "We
can't establish h a r m to the environment unless
we k n o w where i t is."
This 19th-century billiard bali was
made from celluloid, an early plastic
that replaced elephant ivory—which
was already growing scarce.
MARK T H I E S S E N , P H O T O G R A P H E D AT S M I T H S O N I A N
INSTITUTION. N A T I O N A L MUSEUM O F A M E R I C A N HISTORY
I n t h e years since his f i r s t beach c l e a n u p ,
T h o m p s o n has helped provide the beginnings
of an answer: The missing plastic is getting bro-
ken i n t o pieces so small they're hard to see. I n a
2004 paper, Thompson coined the t e r m "micro-
plastics" for these small bits, predicting—accu-
rately, as i t t u r n e d o u t — t h a t they had "potential
for large-scale accumulation" i n the ocean.
W h e n we met i n P l y m o u t h last fali, T h o m p -
son and two of his students had just completed a
study that indicated i f s not just waves and sun-
light that break d o w n plastic. I n lab tests, they'd
w a t c h e d a m p h i p o d s o f the species Orchestia
gammarellus—úny shrimplike crustaceans that
are common i n European coastal waters—devour
pieces of plastic bags and determined they could
shred a single bag i n t o 1.75 m i l l i o n microscopic
fragments. The little creatures chewed t h r o u g h
plastic especially fast, Thompson's team found,
when i t was coated w i t h the microbial slime that
is their normal food. They spat out or eventually
excreted the plastic bits.
M i c r o p l a s t i c s have been f o u n d everywhere
i n the ocean that people have looked, f r o m sed-
i m e n t s o n the deepest seafloor to ice f l o a t i n g
i n the A r c t i c — w h i c h , as i t melts over the next
decade, could release more t h a n a t r i l l i o n bits of
plastic into the water, according to one estimate.
On some beaches on the Big Island of Hawaii, as
m u c h as 15 percent of the sand is actually grains
of microplastic. K a m i l o Point Beach, the one I
walked on, catches plastic from the North Pacific
gyre, the trashiest of five swirling current systems
PLASTIC 49
 ''-tf' ':;'"'.v-itj' .''-'ff
that transport garbage around the ocean basins
and concentrate it i n great patches. At K a m i l o
Point the beach is p i l e d w i t h l a u n d r y baskets,
bottles, and containers w i t h labels i n Chinese,
Japanese, Korean, E n g l i s h , and occasionally,
Russian. On Henderson Island, an u n i n h a b i t e d
coral island i n the South Pacific, researchers have
f o u n d an a s t o n i s h i n g v o l u m e o f plastic f r o m
South America, Asia, New Zealand, Rússia, and
as far away as Scotland.
As Thompson and I talked about ali this, a day
boat called the Dolphin was carrying us through
a light chop i n the Sound, off Plymouth. Thomp-
son reeled o u t a fine-mesh net called a m a n t a
t r a w l , usually used for s t u d y i n g p l a n k t o n . We
were close to the spot where, a few years ear-
lier, other researchers had collected 504 fish of
10 species and given t h e m to Thompson. Dissect-
ing the fish, he was surprised to find microplas-
tics i n the guts of more t h a n one-third of t h e m .
The finding made International headlines.
After we'd steamed along for a while, T h o m p -
son reeled the manta trawl back i n . There was a
smattering of colored plastic confetti at the bot-
t o m . T h o m p s o n h i m s e l f doesn't w o r r y m u c h
about iTiicroplastics i n his fish and chips—there's
little evidence yet that they pass from the gut of
a fish i n t o the flesh we actually eat. (See article
o n page 84.) He worries more about the things
that none of us can see—the chemicals added to
plastics to give t h e m desirable properties, such as
malleability, and the even tinier nanoplastics that
50 NATIONAt GEOGRAPHIC
Found on Kamilo Point
Beach, Hawaii: "plas-
tiglomerate," a type
of rock formed when
plastic debris-perhaps
in a campfire-fuses
with sand, rock, shells,
and coral. Geologists
think it may become an
enduring marker of our
impact on the Earth.
JEFF E L S T O N E
IDENTIFIEO BY C H A R L E S M O O R E , PATRÍCIA
C O R C O R A N , A N D KELLY J A Z V A C
microplastics presumably degrade into. Those
m i g h t pass into the tissues of fish and humans.
"We do know the concentrations of chemicals
at the t i m e of m a n u f a c t u r e i n some cases are
very high," Thompson said. "We don't know how
m u c h additive is left i n the plastic by the time i t
becomes bite-size to a fish.
"Nobody has found nanoparticles i n the envi-
ronment—they're below the levei of detection for
analytical equipment. People t h i n k they are out
there. They have the potential to be sequestered
i n tissue, and that could be a game changer."
T h o m p s o n is careful n o t to get ahead of the
science on his subject. He's far from an alarmist—
but he's also convinced that plastic trash i n the
ocean is far more t h a n an aesthetic problem. " I
don't think we should be waiting for a key finding
of whether or not fish are hazardous to eat," he
said. "We have enough evidence to act."
H O W D i D W E G E T H E R E ? When d l d the d a r k s i d e
of the miracle o f plastic first show itself? It's a
question t h a t can be asked about m a n y o f the
marvels of our technological w o r l d . Since help-
ing the Allies w i n World War I I — t h i n k of n y l o n
parachutes or líghtweight airplane parts—plas-
tics have transformed ali our lives as few other
inventions have, mostly for the better. They've
eased travei into space and revolutionized medi-
cine. They lighten every car and j u m b o jet today,
saving fuel—and pollution. I n the form of clingy,
light-as-air wraps, they extend the life of fresh
 Total
4-48 million tons
produced in 2015

Other
52 million
includes heaith care
Growth in Asia and agriculture
As t h e economies ín Asia ,' •* The average
4001
grow, so does d e m a n d for t i m e plastics
consumer p r o d u c t s - a n d are used before
plastics. Half t h e worÍd's theyVe discarded.
plastics are made there, 29 2008
percent in China. recession Building and
construction
72 million
IIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII l l l l l l l l
35 years
Industrial
machinery
3 million
i i i i i i i i i i i f 20 years

Transportation
30 million
l l l l l l l l l l l l l B years

Electrical
19 million
A LIFETiME OF PLASTIC •IIIIIHSyears

The first plastics made from fós-

sil f uels are just over a century old.
They came into widespread use after
World War II and are found today
in everything from cars to medicai Textiles
devices to food packaging. Their 65 million
usefui lifetime varies. Once disposed
of, they break down into smaller
fragments that linger for centuries.

Consumer
products
46 million
I I I 3 years

Global plastk
production by industry
in millions oftons

L e g a c y o f World War ií Packaging

SÍTortages of natura! 161 million
materiais d u r i n g t h e I Less than six months
war led t o a search
for synthetic alterna- The largest market for plastics t o d a y is
tives—and t o an e x p o - for packaging materiais. That trash now
nentiat surge ín plastic accounts for nearly half of ali plastic waste
production that g e n e r a t e d globally; most of it never gets
continues today. recycled or incinerated.

1950 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2015 JASON TREAT A N D RYAN T. W I L L I A M S , N G M STAFF
SOURCF; R O I A N D GEYER, UNiVERSlTY
OF CALIFORNfA, SANTA BARBARA
 '1 f
Yiwu International Trade City, in the eastern Chine

The World province of Zhejiang, is the world's largest wholesd

market for small commodities-and a plastic feast foi
the eyes. More than 70,000 booths, housed in a serii
of connected buildings, sell everything from inflat-
able pools to cooking utensils to artificial flowers. To %i y
1
'.r

Capital of photographer Richard John Seymour, the market fell

both utterly familiar, because its goods are found
everywhere, and completely foreign, because of the
mind-boggling volume. China is the largest produci

Everyday Plastic of plastic-it accounts for more than a quarter of the

global total-much of it exported to the world.
RD J O H N SEYMOUR ( A L L )
 Dimethyl • Oxygen
terephthalate
— • Carbon
Hydrogen

Simple links
The monomers t h a t are
synthesized i n t o plastics

•A
are usually d e r i v e d f r o m
fóssil fuels such as crude oíl
and natural gas.
•m p
Chemical reactions
Heat, pressure, and
catalysts drive reac- Polymer chain
tions t l i a t linic t h e
monomers.
* m Polyethylene
terephthalate
(PET)
Ethylene
giycol 0
•
^ ^
•
•
m End products
A
W W PET is one o f t h e most
w i d e l v :.used polymers.
m M e t h a n o l , a b y - p r o d u c t of

DURABLE CHAINS fe • PET synthesis, is typically

incinerated.
Plastics are polymers: Long-chain

o
molecules made of repeating
links, or monomers. The chains
are strong, light, and durable, Methanol
which makes them so useful-and
so problematic when they're dis-
posed of carelessly. The polymer 9
here is PET, a type of polyester,
the stuff of bottles and clothes.
4\
li %
food. I n airbags, incubators, helmets, or simply
by delivering clean d r i n k i n g water to poor peo-
ple i n those now demonized disposable bottles,
plastics save lives daily.
I n one of their early applications, they saved
w i l d l i f e . I n the m i d - i 8 o o s , piano keys, b i l l i a r d
balis, combs, a n d ali m a n n e r o f t r i n k e t s were
made of a scarce natural material: elephant ivory.
W i t h the elephant p o p u l a t i o n at risk and ivory
expensive and scarce, a biliiards company i n New
York City offered a $io,ooo reward to anyone who
could come up w i t h an alternative.
As Susan Freinkel tells the tale i n her book,
Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, an amateur inventor
named John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge.
His new material, celluloid, was made of cellulose,
the polymer found i n ali plants. Hyatfs company
boasted that it w o u l d eliminate the need "to ran-
sack the Earth i n pursuit of substances w h i c h are
constantly growing scarcer." Besides sparing at
J A S O N T R E A T A N D RYAN WILLIAMS, N G M STAFF
S O U R C E : ERIC J 8 E C K M A N , UNIVERSITY O F PITTSBURGH least some elephants, celluloid also helped change

^ 58 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
 •
Dimethyl • Oxygen
terephthalate
• Carbon
Hydrogen

Simple linl<s
The monomers t h a t are
synthesized i n t o plastics
are usually d e r i v e d f r o m mm
fóssil fuels such as cru d e oii
and natural gas.
* m p*
Chemical reactions
Heat, pressure, and
catalysts drive reac- Polymer chain
tions t h a t link t h e
monomers.
«m Polyethylene
terephthalate

Ethylene • •
m« (PET)

glycol 0 ^ ^
• mm
* *
mm
• m m '»> End products

mm PET is one o f t h e most

• mm • w i d e l v ^^ed polymers.

* mm * m
M e t h a n o l , a b y - p r o d u c t of
PET synthesis, is t y p ic a lly
DURABLE CHAINS m incinerated.
Plastics are polymers: Long-chain
molecules made of repeating
links, or monomers. The chains
are strong, light, and durable,
which makes them so useful-and
O
mm » Methanol

so problematic when theyVe dis-

posed of carelessly. The polymer
* # • mm •
•m
V m
here is PET, a type of polyester,
the stuff of bottles and clothes.
m«
mm mm
*m m
food. I n airbags, incubators, helmets, or simply

m ^ mm m
by delivering clean d r i n k i n g water to poor peo-
ple i n those now demonized disposable bottles,
* mm * plastics save lives daily.
mm I n one of their early applications, they saved
mm m^ w i l d l i f e . I n the m i d - i 8 o o s , piano keys, b i l l i a r d
m^-m balis, combs, a n d ali m a n n e r o f t r i n k e t s were
mm h made of a scarce natural material: elephant ivory.
«m W i t h the elephant p o p u l a t i o n at risk and ivory

•m expensive and scarce, a biliiards company i n New

York City offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who
could come up w i t h an alternative.
* m m As Susan Freinkel tells the tale i n her book,
m m Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, an amateur inventor
m m • « named John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge.
m m His new material, celluloid, was made of cellulose,

m ' mmm m • the polymer found i n ali plants. Hyatfs company

mm boasted that it w o u l d eliminate the need "to ran-

\m J A S O N T R E A T A N D RYAN WILLIAAAS, N G M STAFF

S O U R C E : ERIC J B E C K M A N , UNIVERSITY O F PITTSBURGH
sack the Earth i n pursuit of substances w h i c h are
constantly growing scarcer." Besides sparing at
least some elephants, celluloid also helped change

58 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC