Floating Hazards
by Solomon Hernandez
The Philippines has always been considered to have one of the world’s most diverse and rich marine life. To some experts, it is even considered as a global center of marine biodiversity. Sad to say, this feature is being destroyed by the continuously increasing amount of solid waste that end up in our seas – most of which is plastic. So, how exactly can something so light and, as some people say, “insignificant” play such a significant part in the deterioration of our country’s marine life? Is there some way to stop this decline in our marine ecosystems? What is in plastics that make it such a hazard to the environment?
To start off, plastics are artificial materials whose structures are based on the chemistry of carbon. They can be softened or hardened depending on the temperature they are exposed to. Because of this flexibility in its chemical structure, plastics can be made into objects, films or filaments. With this durability, plastics are widely used around the world. But the problem with plastics is that what humans consider as its most beneficial quality is the one that makes it such a hazard to the environment. It is a hazard because unlike other materials that are not as durable, plastics only decompose after a very long time.
Most of the plastics that are manufactured nowadays are made from propylene, a simple chemical component of petroleum. When propylene is heated up in the presence of a chemical agent, individual chemical units monomers of propylene link together by creating particularly strong carbon-carbon bonds with each other. This is why plastics take a long time to decompose. They are not natural, thus, decomposers are unfamiliar with them and have no ability yet to biodegrade them.
Often times, plastics and other solid wastes end up floating to our seas. Generally, it takes a thousand years for plastic to decompose or break down in water. Plastics are usually found lodged on animal skin and sometimes ingested by birds, fish, turtles, and marine mammals. When plastics reach the waters, they pose an imminent threat to the animals that depend on the oceans for food. Ocean plastics contain unsafe substances derived from the plastic itself and from oily pollutants that stick to them. So plastic toxins end up spreading across from plastics ingested by fish and other marine animals. For example, a sea turtle may see a floating plastic bag and think of it as a jellyfish.
“…naay times nga ma-misidentify sa turtles ang plastic as jelly.” Warwin Sabasaje, research assistant of the Xavier University – McKeough Marine Center, supports. “…pwede pud sa whales,” he added regarding the ingestion of plastic by marine animals.
Plastic pellets – the tiny hard pieces of plastic from which plastic products are made – may look like fish eggs to seabirds. Plastics, particularly even micro ones, have the ability to harm or even kill some animals such as baby turtles or invertebrates. Floating nets may trap birds, fish, and mammals, making it hard, if not impossible, for them to move or eat or even transferring to other regions, thus, impacting other marine ecosystems. Corals, homes to fish, are also affected by these plastics.
“...kay ang corals kay dili man siya mobile. Kuan man siya, stationary…so, once naay plastic nga mu-cover sa iya kay mamatay na sila...ma-coveran niya ang reef mismo,” said Warwin.
These trash that some of us may consider as “insignificant” is a major factor to the decline of our marine ecosystems.
Here in the Philippines, plastics are ordinary visible wastes that pollute our seas. For instance, on the year 2010, the Waste Management Commission reported that the Philippines’ trash increased by 40% and 1,355,236 items of trash were found in the surrounding oceans. From that total amount of trash, 679,957 items were categorized as plastic bags, 103,226 of it were food wrappers, 34,154 were lighters and wrappers, and the rest were composed mostly of biodegradable trash such as paper bags, clothing, or cigarette butts. These materials can poison and release toxic substances into the ocean making them deadly to the marine ecosystem. In addition to this, on the year 2012, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) reported that they collected as much as 1,800 tons of trash washed ashore by heavy rains into the Manila Bay. These trash comprised mostly of plastic bags and wrappers. Another set of waste audits conducted by Greenpeace and EcoWaste Coalition in the years 2006 and 2010 displayed that more than 70% of trash in the Manila Bay were made mostly of plastic bags and packaging.
On a more local context, last September 20, 2014, the Macajalar Bay Development Alliance (MBDA) and Xavier University – McKeough Marine Center (XU-MMC) participated in the Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup Day, with a total of 880 participants in Macajalar Bay. Huge amounts of solid waste were collected that day, later revealed to be comprised of plastics. On the shores of Tagoloan, the top three collected trash during that day were all made of plastic: plastic food wrappers by 19.11 percent of the total trash collected, grocery plastic bags by 9.09 percent, and toys by 8.16 percent. Three of the top five collected trash along the Bulua shores were also reported to be plastic: 8.73 percent were plastic trash bags, 8.71 percent were plastic food wrappers, and 5.57 percent were plastic grocery bags.
Kristine Galarrita, one of the researchers at the XU-MMC and one of the organizers of the cleanup, opines that the amount of trash collected that day in Macajalar Bay is mostly plastic. She says that the amount is still increasing and that their research survey is still ongoing.
“Ang recommendation namo ani if mabutang na mi sa LGUs: management [segregation] sa basura,” says Kristine Galarrita.
A great way to lessen our seas’ pollution would be for people to stop littering in it. Still, there are signs that signify that Mother Earth may have found out a way to fight back and help with the situation. Last June 2014 in the University of Western Australia, researchers – using a scanning electron microscope – have found microorganisms living on plastic, and that these microbes seem to degrade ocean plastics. These microscopic plastic-dwellers were found to be reducing marine garbage on the ocean surface by “eating” plastics. This large numbers of algae can weight down the plastic they are living on; thus, making tiny pieces of it sink to the ocean floor. According to the researchers, these microbes were responsible for biodegrading a vast amount of debris floating in the waters worldwide. One researcher claims that plastic degradation seems to happen at sea. It also serves as an explanation why the amount of plastics floating on the seas has not been expanding as fast as scientists estimated.
On the other hand, though, this rapid growth of microbes may provide food to some marine animals. There has been evidence of tiny bite marks found on the microplastics, raising concerns that they are being consumed by small organisms. Since these plastic-dwellers contain toxins, it is unclear if such feeding activities would be good or bad for the animals. Some plastic particles could even contain deadly bacteria and viruses which could end up in organisms that feed on the plastic-dwellers.
Also, little is still known about these plastic-eating microorganisms. Kristine and Warwin also admit to being unfamiliar with the discovery of such plastic-eating algae.
Whether this scientific development is a solution to our plastic dilemma or not, as humans, it is still our responsibility to care more for our environment. We should still be more careful with how we handle our wastes.
