Micro Plastics
THE MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE

INTRODUCTION
• The ocean supplies much of the air we breathe,
food that we eat and the water we drink. This
means that no matter where we live, our lives
depend on him and if he is not healthy, we neither.
The role that the ocean will have to play for a
population that in 2040 will reach 9 billion will be
crucial to our future onon this planet. Our ability to
manage impacts in the ocean is the key to protect
the resources and ecosystems we need to survive as
a species. And something fundamental where we
can start, is to deal with the damage caused by
marine debris.Our personal decisions can also play
a fundamental role in raising social awareness and
in actions that take place at the local level.

We are all connected to the Ocean
• The disheartening amount of trash afloat in the sea,littering beaches, and piling
up on the sea floor affects the health of Earth’s life support system,the ocean,
and all the living things in it. Marine debris is more than a blemish on Nature, it
is a potential threat to our food supply, to tourism and economic activity, to
marine wildlife and ecosystems,and to our personal health. It even relates to the
impacts of climate change. But there’s good news:Marine debris is a problem we
can readily solve.

Marine debris kills
Every year, thousands of marine mammals, sea
turtles, seabirds, and other animals are sickened,
injured, or killed because of trash in the ocean.
Animals choke or become poisoned when they eat
trash, and drown when they become entangled in
bags, ropes, and old fishing gear. The majority of
entangled animals found during the Cleanup were
bound up by old fishing line. The loss of wildlife
affects not only the beauty and health of the
planet, but also countless local economies based
on the bounty of the sea.

Litter doesn’t belong in our Environment
• The single-use plastic bottle is fast
becoming synonymous with our
beaches. These bottles can take more
than 450 years to fragment into micro
plastics, harming marine life on the
way. Together with the cans and other
containers, they are trashing our tide
lines and littering our line-ups.
• A simple circular economy Deposit
Return System, could help almost
eliminate plastic bottles and other
containers littering our precious blue
and green spaces, ensuring they are
returned to the manufacturer for reuse
or recycling, protecting our
environment, saving a valuable
resource and saving local authorities
money.

Bottles in the Marine Environment
• It probably won’t surprise anyone to learn
plastic bottles litter tidelines all around the
world. However, the sheer quantity on our
beaches is shocking, with the latest Beach
watch survey finding 159 plastic bottles for
every mile of beach surveyed. There is also
growing evidence exposing an alarming
number of plastic bottles accumulating on
the seabed.
• In the marine environment, a typical
plastic bottle might take around 450 years
to break down, potentially longer. But
what does “break down” mean?
Harmlessly disappear? Unfortunately not.
Plastic bottles fragment, breaking down
into smaller and smaller plastic particles
with the ever-increased potential to cause
harm to marine life and enter the food
chain. Glass bottles and metal cans take
significantly longer to break down and can
cause serious harm and injury as they do.

Eliminating Plastic and Microplastic Pollution -
an urgent need
• What is clear is that, irrespective of which sea or
ocean the plastic is polluting, it is constant in one
characteristic. It slowly and constantly fractures and
disintegrates into trillions of microplastic pieces.
• These pieces of microplastic, so pervasively invade
our ecosystems, mix with the sand on our beaches
and weaken our water systems, and penetrate our
food chain. That of course means that these
microplastics are also finding their way in our
bodies.
• But just think how we have become part of this
vicious circle. We buy fish for one evening dinner.
The fishmonger gives us the fish wrapped in a
plastic carrier bag to keep the fish fresh during its
epic journey from sea to our plate.
• What we forget is that that plastic carrier bag is
ready to make its own epic journey from land to sea.
There, it will break up into tiny particles which are
then eaten by small fish, which are eaten by bigger
fish

Back on our plate
• It is a very ironic that years later that bag -
designed to keep our fish fresh and clean –
could form part of our next seafood meal,
having being ingested all the way up the
food chain, to arrive back on our plate
inside the fish in microscopic form.
• On land, beaches are disfigured by plastic
strewn everywhere. The economic impact
is enormous – opportunities for
sustainable and long term tourism projects
are lost. Such beaches are not a place for a
healthy family recreational activity.
More plastic than plankton
• Marine water samples, in some
problematic areas, contained 6 times
more plastic than plankton.
• At least six million tons of plastic end up
in our seas and oceans every year.
And the problem is not just microscopic

THE SUCCESS IS IN THE COMMITMENT
• There are solutions that everyone,
everywhere in the world, can adopt and
join in. Most of them are quite simple:
throw your trash in the proper receptacles;
opt for reusable bags at the grocery store;
eat only sustainably caught fish; recycle.
Regardless, whatever you choose to do to
help the ocean, the most important thing is
to do something, to not only be ardent
advocates of conservation but also its most
active participants. The time for sea
change has come. Each of us has a
personal responsibility when it comes to
the health of the ocean. While the
challenges we face may seem
overwhelming, I am a firm believer that
together we can build the sustainable
future of our dreams. Each of us alone. All
of us together. Making a positive
difference.
Philipe Cousteau

The stages of degradation in the sea.
• 1. Bio-deterioration is generated by the
mechanical action of the bacterial biofilm
that forms on the surface of the plastic
• 2. Bio-fragmentation is the action of
bacterial enzymes released outside the
cells to segregate the plastic polymers into
shorter sequences
• 3. The assimilation consists of the transfer
of plastic molecules of size <600Da
(Dalton) in bacterial cells and their
transformation into cellular compounds
and in biomass.
• 4. The mineralization corresponds to the
complete degradation of the plastic in
oxidized molecules (CO2, N2, CH4, H2O).

Micro Plastic in the Ocean
• The presence of normal plastic
waste is already a problem for the
ocean. It is nothing new that marine
beings ingest pieces of plastic of a
certain size by confusing them with
food. These micro particles may be
invisible to the eye (5 millimeters or
less) but are contributing to the
problem of floating plastic debris in
the ocean, waiting to be ingested by
the unprepared marine life.
• Aside from visual pollution, plastics
directly or indirectly affect marine
organisms at different levels of the
food chain (Wright et al., 2013)

What can you do to help
• Be a VOLUNTEER in our Center located in PLAYA POCHOTE,COSTA RICA
• Become a MEMBER of the family of OCEAN SYMPHONY
• Organize CLEANING CAMPAIGNS on your favorite beaches
• Participating in FUND RAISING campaigns
• Share your photographs of the BEACH WASTE on our facebook page
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Seek better technological solutions
• Support the inclusion of COMPREHENSIVE ocean management in all climate change
initiatives
• Engage in COMMUNITY EFFORTS

Help us …. Read the message