A study published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” presents the results of a research on plastic waste in the world’s oceans. A group of scientists took samples of waste in various ocean areas in 2010 and 2011 and from the data they gathered they estimated that the amount of plastic in the oceans is up to 40,000 tons. Other researches that that took into account the data down to the ’70s estimated that thare might be up to one million tons of plastic in the oceans and this raises the question of what happened to the missing plastic.

The recently published study focused on five “islands” of plastic that accumulated in as many areas of the oceans. These islands coincide with the great ocean currents that transport garbage over long distances up to those areas. They are situated to the west of the USA, between the USA and Africa, to the west of the south of South America, to the east and west of the southern tip of Africa.

It’s inevitable that the results are approximate but the difference between those obtained from this research and other estimates is too high. The nets used to collect the samples were made exactly to be able to capture even microscopic bits of plastic. This is precisely because most of the plastic is expected to have already been fragmented by the continuous action of waves and solar radiation.

In the best case scenario, plastic pieces were brought to the bottom of the oceans by animals it attached to and their feces. This plastic should end up being buried in the oceans’ bottom so it would take a specific research to find it. In this case, the effects of plastic on the ecosystem would need to be assessed.

A worse possibility which has already been at least partially confirmed by the exam of marine animals is that at least part of the plastic that ended in the oceans has become part of the food chain. According to Carlos Duarte, one of the authors of the research just published, perhaps we don’t know what happened to the 99% of the plastic in the oceans.

The main question is: how much of this plastic has entered the food chain? At that point, we can start wondering about the possible consequences. What damage can that cause to the ecosystem? Humans normally eat fish too, what are the consequences of eating contaminated fish on our health? We need further research on these problems as soon as possible.

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