In late February of 2017, a young sperm whale washed up on a beach of Murcia in Southern Spain. The autopsy performed by the El Valle Wildlife Center revealed that the whale died of gastric shock to its intestine and stomach after ingesting nearly 29 kilograms of plastic. The plastics found in the whale included plastic bags, pieces of nets and ropes.

The incident was unfortunately not an isolated one. A whale washed ashore the Philippines after consuming nearly 40 kilograms of plastic in early 2019. Another sperm whale washed up dead on the shores of the Italian island of Sardinia. It’s estimated that over 100 million sea mammals and turtles die of plastic ingestion every year.

10.5 million tons of plastic is dumped in the ocean every year, most of it composing of single use plastics. While single use plastics have a worklife of less than a day, they take over 500 million years to biodegrade naturally. The dumping of single use plastics is especially rampant in South-East Asia. A report by the Ocean Conservancy stated that China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam has been dumping more plastic than the rest of the world combined.  

While these incidents garner media attention and sparks conversation on the issue, almost all marine life are harmed by microplastics, which are pieces of plastic that are less than 5 millimeters long. They are synthetically created or are formed by the continuous breakdown of plastic into smaller and smaller pieces by marine life. Microplastics slowly accumulate in animals and cause a variety of health problems. The effects of this include a disrupted feeding cycle and reduced growth. It ends up in the lining of the stomach until it slowly causes the animal to suffocate or die of gastric failure. 

Over 114 aquatic species have been found to have microplastics in their biomass and almost 700 species are being endangered because of it.

The effects of microplastics do not only affect marine life but human life as well. While microplastics have been studied for less than five years, scientists have found alarming results on it. Traces of microplastics have been found in the air, in seafood and salt and in potable water. Some chemicals in these microplastics are known to disrupt hormonal function and impede brain development. The effects of these microplastics on long term health are still unclear.

Many solutions have been proposed to replace plastics, but none have them feasible so far. Biodegradable plastics seemed promising but in 2015 the United Nations Environmental program deemed an unrealistic solution. According to most experts, the solution is to reduce the production of disposable plastics. Single use plastics contribute to 79% of all plastics dumped in the oceans. Many governments and organisations across the world are starting to recognise this. The EU parliament approved the ban of single use plastic in 2018. China ratified a bill banning the retail use of plastic bags. Foodservice companies are starting to phase out single use plastics. Prime Minister Modi declared in 2018 that India would eliminate the use of all single use plastics by 2022.