How Can We Prevent Ocean Plastic Pollution?

The ocean covers almost 95% of the earth’s water. The ocean plays an important part in our world. It contains life and is vital in balancing the environment of the earth. It is essential for both humans and animals and without the ocean, we can’t survive for a long time.

Sadly, we humans do not care about our ocean and what it holds within it. We continue to pollute oceans without knowing the consequences. Plastic is the number one threat to the ocean’s health and the creatures living inside it. All the plastic that we use in our daily life is thrown and disposed of into the ocean.

In this article, we’re going to talk about some measures that we could take to prevent plastic pollution in oceans.

Solutions to plastic pollution:

There are numerous solutions to plastic pollution. Some of the most effective and easy to implement solutions to plastic pollution are listed below.

1. Don’t rely on plastic

In today’s world plastic is used worldwide for making dishes, plastic bags, utensils, grocery bags, and much more. All of this plastic isn’t recyclable and can be used once. After using it once you dispose of it and then it is disposed of into the ocean. One of the best solutions to plastic pollution is to avoid disposable plastic and use alternatives instead of plastic items like cotton tote bags.

2. Go to a beach cleanup

Nowadays, more people are getting aware of ocean plastic pollution. People organize meetings and beach cleanups to clean all sorts of trash that is dumped into the ocean. Go to these types of meetups or organize it yourself. This tip is one of the effective solutions to plastic pollution and can surely prevent ocean plastic pollution.

Moreover, by removing all kinds of plastic in the ocean you will also help the creatures living in it. As plastic is non-degradable it takes a lot of time for the plastic to be fully diminished and sea creatures living inside the ocean eat this plastic as they think that it is prey. This makes it hard for the creatures to breathe and live long.

3. Make your habit to recycle

If you wish to use plastic and the materials made up of it then make sure that you use a recyclable version. To date only 9-14% of the world’s plastic is recyclable. There are specific numbers labeled on recyclable plastics. So, make sure to google those numbers before buying a specific plastic item.

4. Eco-friendly products

One of the great solutions to plastic pollution is to buy eco-friendly products. Eco-friendly products as the name suggests are products that are friendly to the environment. An ecofriendly product is one that is produced with both ethics and the environment in mind.

Using eco-friendly products will prevent single-use plastic pollution that will help to reduce plastic’s quantity in the ocean. Also, avoid products that have microbeads in them as they contain plastic and can slip into the ocean through the sewer systems. As they’re small like beads sea creatures usually mistake them for food and eat it.

The above-mentioned are some general solutions to plastic pollution. Now we’ll discuss some scientific solutions to plastic pollution that are harder to implement but are way more effective.

Scientific solutions to plastic pollution:

There are many scientific solutions to plastic pollution. Some of the most effective scientific solutions to plastic pollution are listed below.

Plastic roads

One of the most effective scientific solutions to ocean pollution plastic is to mix plastic with road building materials. Plastic can take up to 1000 years to degrade. Such a long time is harmful to both the ocean and marine life. Therefore, the method of using plastic in road building procedures is effective and harmless.

To degrade plastic faster and to use it effectively scientists have found a way to build roads made up of ocean plastic and non-recyclable plastic mixed with other materials. This will reduce the quantity of plastic floating in the ocean. Moreover, single-use plastic will be used on the pavement of roads rather than been disposed of in the ocean.

Plastic eating Super-Enzyme

Scientists have created an enzyme known as a super-enzyme from the plastic-eating bug. This enzyme degrades plastic at a very rapid rate. This enzyme can be released into the ocean which will prevent plastic pollution in it. Which will then in return benefit the ocean wildlife and reduce the ocean pollution plastic.

Plastic degradation through anaerobic soil bacteria

Plastic is a highly manufactured material that is very easy to use and is easily accessible in almost every corner of the world which results in plastic pollution especially ocean pollution. Scientists are working efficiently to produce such methods that may perform the degradation of plastic through bacteria or bacterium.

Many of the researchers have found out the process of plastic degradation through the anaerobic soil bacteria which means bacteria that don’t require oxygen to survive. This can be done by Pseudomonas PL-01, Bacillus PL-01, and indigenous bacteria. This is an effective method that is not too expensive and instead of throwing off plastic in the ocean, we can degrade plastic by the means of this particular strategy.

The ocean pollution plastic has been one of the greatest problems for many years in human history. Many ways have been discovered to solve this matter out of which the affordable and easier result determined way is the degradation of plastic through anaerobic soil bacteria.

Conclusion:

The above-mentioned are the solutions which include both general and scientific to prevent ocean plastic pollution. It is our duty that we should do whatever we can to prevent plastic pollution in the ocean. Make sure to use fewer products that are made up of plastics.

Make sure to buy eco-friendly products and take an initiative to clean up the beach every once in a while, so you can prevent plastic pollution in the ocean. Moreover, make sure to throw plastic on beaches and use recyclable plastic instead of single-use plastic.