Microscopic plastic beads: The silent threat in the sea

Microscopic plastic beads in toothpaste, washing powder and cosmetics are harming South Africa's marine life and could come back to our dinner plates.

With about eight million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year, the UN has launched the #CleanSeas campaign to eliminate microplastics in cosmetics by 2022.

Marine biologist Deborah Robertson-Andersson said that some plastic particles washed up along the coast, and in many other parts of the world, have accumulated high levels of toxic chemicals including DDT, Lindane and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

This poses a dire threat for the fish that eat those particles - and the people who eat those fish.

Robertson-Andersson, a senior lecturer in marine biology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal , said a worry was that fish and other sea creatures such as turtles could be poisoned slowly and t hese poisons might enter the bloodstreams of anything that eats them.

"The tiny plastic particles contain chemicals that bio-accumulate at every stage along the food chain, and this can harm us," she said.

Robertson-Andersson said the poison came either from the chemicals used to make plastic, or by the fish swallowing tiny pieces of floating plastic contaminated by other toxic chemicals in the sea.

Medical studies showed that very small particles of polyvinylchloride and polystyrene could move from the stomach into the lymph and circulatory systems of people.

A UN environment report published last year found that "on average every square kilometre of the world's oceans has 63320 microplastic particles floating at the surface", although concentrations varied by region.

Closer to home, recent studies by marine researchers have shown that every sea water sample collected off the coast of Durban contains fragments of plastic narrower than a human hair.

Many of these fragments came from suburban washing machines, which are unable to filter the tiny plastic fibres from synthetic clothes, as well as the plastic "microbeads" in products such as shampoos and soap.

While little research appears to have been done off Cape Town, Port Elizabeth or East London, "there is not one part of the ocean that does not contain some plastic", said Robertson-Andersson.

PlasticsSA industry lobbyist Douw Steyn said the harmful effect of plastic was a problem that had to involve all South Africans - not just industry.

"We also want to find a solution, but the solution must involve all of us, including those of us who carelessly drop plastic litter into the environment," he said.

During the launch of the #CleanSeas campaign, UN Environment head Erik Solheim said: "Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables. The problem must stop."

Nine countries have joined the campaign to turn the plastic tide.