Microplastics are small plastic pieces, usually less than five millimetres long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life.
Plastic is everywhere and a lot of it ends up in the ocean. Most plastics in the ocean break up into very small particles. These small plastic bits are called “microplastics.”
Mersin University’s Faculty of Aquaculture professor Deniz Ayas stated that around 95 percent of the contaminants in the sea, on the seabed and along the coastlines of the Mediterranean consist of plastics.
This poses a public health hazard, and it is ironic that the problem is defined as “anthropogenic” or caused by humans.
“We term microplastics as the particles and granules that occur through decomposition of plastic bottles, bags and packages thrown out into nature and the sea over the course of time,” said Professor Ayas. He also stated that this kind of pollution can be observed “even by the naked eye on the 321-kilometer coastline between the province of Mersin and the province of Hatay’s industrial district İskenderun.
Microplastics pose a very serious threat to marine ecosystems. Recent research shows that they also transform into smaller nano plastics, which could be metabolized and enter the body systems of humans and other living things.
The use of plastics should be restricted, and waste recycling systems should be developed more rapidly, the academic stressed.
