I never really realized how large a scale the problem of plastic is until I watched a program late one night about plastic they stated that millions of pieces of micro plastic are raining down on London each day, researches at Kings College London analysed the number of particles and fibres falling on the roof of a nine storey building in the middle of London on eight separate days, they picked a spot high up to ensure that only micro plastic from the atmosphere was collected instead of only looking at pieces being deposited on ground level.
Eight samples were examined, and they found tiny pieces with numbers ranging from 575 to 1008 per square metre which suggests millions of pieces of plastic fall upon London each day off the clothes we wear and items like food packaging. From studies micro -plastic can travel great distances in the air, has been discovered in remote locations such as the Arctic and the tops of mountains.
Even our tap water is also known to contain micro-plastics with the new study suggesting the pollutants may be falling from the sky and becoming trapped in the water cycle.
I have read that the accumulation rate in London was found to be 20 times higher than in Dongguan, China, Paris, France, Hamburg, Germany these cities where similar measurements have been taken.
People with heart problems, dementia, depression, bronchitis and even cancer are affected more.
Some studies have suggested that people may be ingesting 50,000 tiny plastic particles a year, through seafood, drinking water, they have found micro-plastics in the stools of humans for the first time.
Then you take our oceans with 8 million of 300 million is chucked into the sea annually which is equivalent to dumping one ton of plastic into the ocean per minute.
When you consider plastic is now part of the food chain, we are eating micro-plastics that have entered the diet of fish, shellfish, birds and of course our own food.
Turtles and wildlife are suffering from the struggle of abandoned nets and caught up plastic bags then a few years ago nearly 30 kilograms of plastic discovered in the stomach of a beached juvenile sperm whale in Spain the Norwegian scientists found over 30 plastic bags inside, another died of 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach.
What is happening to our beaches and coral will man continue this path and destroy the planet for ever, not only is our food and drink affected.
Through unrelated practices man is now faced with another type of survival which from little tourism and lock downs all around the world some wildlife is now returning.
SallyGilson 