Plastic Pollution

“YOU ARE EATING PLASTICS.”

Plastic production became a boom after world war two. It contributes 85% to wars and an increase of approximately 3000% in production over the past 20 years. Because of consumerism, plastic companies has been profiting while not claiming any responsibility for the waste they have caused. One of the most pervasive reasons is simply the perception of managers and stakeholders thinking that no major problems exist (Laing et al. 2006).

Plastics are not biodegradable. Rather, it continues to disintegrate into smaller pieces while remaining a polymer. They are almost the size of algae commonly eaten by marine animals.

Micro-plastics are much more harmful than macro plastics. Oysters, in particular ingest these polystyrene micro plastics, and it takes a toll on its digestive and reproductive systems. Because of the nature of plastics, the oysters would require an extra span of energy to pass plastic through the system. During digestion, these plastics releases a chemical that is known to disrupt the endocrine system.

Because of the diverted energy to the digestive system, the fertility rate has halved. The male oysters produces slower-swimming sperms and the female oysters produces smaller and fewer eggs. The offsprings also grows slower.

Furthermore, as the oysters are being eaten by larger predators, these toxic chemicals are absorbed and it slowly accumulates in the tissues. These fishes then become mechanisms for transportation of toxins up the food chain. Things that we do not want in the body ends up back in our body. How exactly does it affect us is still under research.