Remote Arctic Areas Have the Same Amount of Plastic Pollution As Cities

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The Arctic Ocean now holds huge amounts of plastic in virtually all of its habitats: ice, land, the water column, and the seafloor. A recent review study by the Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI) looked at the micro- and macroplastics that are found in the Arctic, which can come from local communities or ships passing through, and can also be carried by the ocean and air from other areas of the world. They found that the amount of plastic is similar to that of densely populated areas elsewhere in the world, despite the Arctic’s remoteness.

It is unknown how the plastic is affecting the region, which is warming 3 times faster than the rest of the world. Melanie Bergmann, a biologist at AWI, told Science Daily that it is hypothesized that dark plastic trapped in ice could cause it to melt faster, while plastic in the air could affect weather patterns. On top of that, Bergmann noted, plastic emits greenhouse gasses over its lifecycle.

“Unfortunately, there are very few studies on the effects of the plastic on marine organisms in the Arctic,” Bergmann said in the publication. “But there is evidence that the consequences there are similar to those in better-studied regions: in the Arctic, too, many animals—polar bears, seals, reindeer and seabirds—become entangled in plastic and die. In the Arctic, too, unintentionally ingested microplastic likely leads to reduced growth and reproduction, to physiological stress and inflammations in the tissues of marine animals, and even runs in the blood of humans.”