Indians are Now Breathing More Plastic Than Ever

A new study has revealed India as one of the hotspots for microplastic accumulation, i.e. tiny bits of plastic that now dominate our atmosphere.

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A new study published in PANS has revealed that Indians are now breathing plastic more than ever. Researchers from the Utah State University have come out with a research paper that puts India as one of the hotspots of terrestrial microplastic sources and accumulation. What this means, essentially, is that micro bits of plastic from polythene and soda bottles are being inhaled by Indians on an everyday basis. The groundbreaking study has also revealed that sources of atmospheric plastic are increasing at a rate of 4% every year, and are mostly located in India, Europe, Middle East, Eastern Asia, and the United States.

India, according to a Central Pollution Control Board Report (2019), consumes about 16.5 million tonnes of plastic annually.


Also Read : Plastic Pollution Threatens Lakshadweep Islands: Study

What are Microplastics?

The grains of plastic that measure less than 5mm can be termed as microplastics. They are often compared to the size of a sewing needle’s hole, and while we cannot see them, they are everywhere. Microplastics are the most ubiquitous form of plastic pollution in the world and have been found in Mount Everest, the Arctic snowfall, and even the human excreta.

Fragments of plastic that are already less than 5 mm in length before they enter our environment, like cloth fibers, are termed primary microplastics. Secondary microplastics are the ones that form as a result of the breakdown of bigger pieces of plastic, such as soda/water bottles. This breakdown happens due to exposure to the sun or ocean waves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since plastic does not decompose, it breaks down into smaller pieces with time, and gradually becomes a part of our environment. While most of our plastic waste goes for incineration or gets deposited in a landfill, parts of it often end up in the air.

Scientists term the accumulation of microplastics in the atmosphere, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems as a new form of global pollution. These accumulated bouts of plastic often release toxic chemicals which harm and poison the beings that inhale/ ingest them.

The Study

Janice Brahney of the Utah State University led an international team of scientists, who then analyzed sources of atmospheric microplastic. While microplastics were initially assumed to be present only in marine ecosystems, their work has revealed that it is present…well, all around us. It stresses the fact that microplastics are extremely durable and can easily travel from the oceans to land to air, and back again.

Brahney and the co-authors have established that bits of fibers and plastics in the air (atmospheric microplastics) can re-enter the atmosphere with ease, even if they have already settled on water or land.

Data for the research was collected from regions across the USA for 14 months and has been able to assess that the country produces 22 thousand tonnes of microplastics every year.

Co-author Natalie Mahowald, Cornell University, told Inverse, “Our paper suggests that not only are microplastics getting to remote regions, but they are being resuspended from the ocean, agricultural regions, or roads into the atmosphere.” Their team was able to denote that roads, the ocean, and dust from agricultural production contribute the highest to the presence of atmospheric microplastics.

They also concluded that a large number of microplastics, the greatest altogether, concentrated above the oceans of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plastic fragments that enter the atmosphere can stay airborne for 1.5 to 6 days, during which time they can easily cross borders. This also causes risk to countries that do not produce microplastic waste, such as Antarctica.