You Don't Want to Know Where Scientists Just Found 27 Million Tons of Plastic

[highplainsdem]

https://gizmodo.com/you-dont-want-to-know-where-scientists-just-found-27-million-tons-of-plastic-2000632563

Despite the hundreds of millions of metric tons of plastic floating in our oceans—not to mention the microplastics in our saliva, blood, breast milk, and semen—researchers have been unable to account for all the plastic ever produced. A new study has just tracked down a large portion of it.

Researchers from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and Utrecht University claim to be the first to provide a real estimate of ocean-polluting nanoplastics. Their research indicates that the North Atlantic Ocean alone hosts 27 million tons of floating plastic particles less than 1 micrometer (μm) in size.

-snip-

Unfortunately, there are a number of ways nanoparticles can end up in the oceans. While some likely arrive via rivers, others fall out of the sky with rain or on their own as “dry deposition.” (Yes, we’ve even found plastic pollution in the sky). Nanoparticles can also form when large pieces of plastic already in the ocean are broken down by waves and/or sunlight, according to the researchers. The question now is how this pollution is impacting the world and its creatures—including us.

“It is already known that nanoplastics can penetrate deep into our bodies. They are even found in brain tissue. Now that we know they are so ubiquitous in the oceans, it’s also obvious that they penetrate the entire ecosystem; from bacteria and other microorganisms to fish and top predators like humans,” said Helge Niemann, a geochemist at NIOZ and another co-author of the study. “How that pollution affects the ecosystem needs further investigation.”

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Really Adds A New Spin...

...on the line from The Graduate.

[highplainsdem]

2. Yeah, I thought of that scene, too.

[calimary]

5. So did I. First thing.

[angryxyouth]

31. I just want to say one word

One word, are you listening? Plastics

[BurnDoubt]

3. Thank Goodness (?) they're shutting down all the research...

God (literally) only knows what other stuff they'd find.
"What you don't know can't hurt you."
DumbFucks!!!!!

[mjvpi]

23. Exactly. I wind up seeing a lot of notices on things ar work........

………..”this product has been shown to cause cancer in California “. Good thing I live and work in Montana.

[Kid Berwyn]

4. We the People

With every coffin, Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Chem bury their mistakes.

[Cheezoholic]

6. Polyester is a type of plastic and every time you wash it micro particles you cant see go down your washer drain

or wherever it gets washed. I read a journal a decade or 2 ago talking about it. Think about how much that is, every day

[synni]

26. Why did nobody mention this in the 1970's?

Most clothes were 100% polyester back then. Why isn't anyone talking about the effects of that? Just the feel of those clothes was horrible!

[Cirsium]

32. Some were

I was.

[customerserviceguy]

38. Hmm, I thought it was just the looks

and yes, in 1976, I got married in a leisure suit.

[Envirogal]

28. California tried to mandate filters for washing machines

But it didn’t make it. Much of our clothes are made of recycled plastic now, called “microfiber”. When you look at what is coming out of that dryer lint, you can imagine what it’s like at the washing stage, draining into the sewer.

[pandr32]

34. Polyester is even sneaking into jeans and our bedsheets.

They are replacing all our natural fiber clothes with it a little at a time. Bras! What sense does that make to where polymers right across our warm breasts? Baby clothes, too. Enough of it can be absorbed and interfere with our endocrine systems.

[kimbutgar]

7. I remember reading years ago of the Great Pacific garbage patch

And now it’s upsetting to hear there is one of these in the North Atlantic Ocean.

I have a friend whose husband is an oceanographer who recently retired from the National Geographic society and he showed me these pictures of the patch and it was so disgusting and outrageous.

[ancianita]

21. The Pacific's is only one of six of them worldwide.

[Mossfern]

8. I have always been wary of plastics

It's now near impossible to avoid them.

I'm old enough to remember when plastic toys first became popular - they just seemed to have no soul.
Scientists need to explore ways to replace them cheaply and safely.

I use cat litter bags that are vegetable based and can be composted.
We use bar soap that comes in paper/cardboard packaging.
Recycling is a joke. The vendor who collects it will reject an entire load if one item in the load is not recyclable.
I've see all sorts of shit in recycling bins - and people feel so righteous because they "recycle."

Ooooooo ...... I can rant about this forever, so I'll stop here.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. I'd love to hear more. Seriously! ...

We have a very active Environment & Energy Forum. You should create some OPs.

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1127

❤️

[Mossfern]

11. Thanks for the link

I think I'll read a bunch of threads before I post
Hopefully it won't depress me.

[littlemissmartypants]

13. My pleasure, Mossfern. Hopefully it won't. ❤️

[ancianita]

22. Same.

Keep in mind that we humans made this problem, and so we have to have the will to solve it.
You're definitely doing your part. Never weary in doing well.

[Polybius]

16. No soul?

Us 80's kids vehemently disagree. We made our GI Joe's, He-Man's, Transformers, and Thundercat's come alive!

[MorbidButterflyTat]

39. Ghost Busters

and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

[llmart]

17. I'd be right there with you with my rants!

My biggest rant is about all the crap people think they just have to have in life. Like you, I'm old enough to remember when people didn't need all this crap. The three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle - they always concentrate on the last two R's, but it's the first R that would solve more problems. REDUCE means don't buy the stuff you don't absolutely need.

I read where even the microbeads found in women's facial products like scrubs are polluting the oceans. Like you, I use bar soap too. That's what we used growing up. I am a certified environmental steward and in one of our many field trips we went to a county recycling center which I found fascinating. Everyone should be made to go one time to see just how the process works. And yes, an awful lot of what you put in those bins never gets recycled.

I truly think getting through to people about this issue is impossible.

[Gimpyknee]

9. And Trump wants to ban paper straws.

[Mossfern]

12. For heaven's sake!

Why?

[Karasu]

14. Conservative contrarianism. Gotta stick it to the "green agenda." Because if we deny the existence of environmental

Last edited Tue Jul 22, 2025, 09:53 PM - Edit history (1)

issues, they'll just go away, don't you know.

More than anything, it's about preserving the status quo until the bitter end, solely for maximum profit. Pure end-stage capitalism shit.

[moonscape]

15. To own the Libs?

[Unwind Your Mind]

33. Because they're a little bit annoying

Priorities you know?

[IcyPeas]

18. "Fast Fashion" : 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year.

It's difficult to find plain old cotton clothes. I've searched on Amazon for 100% cotton t-shirts and the results are often not cotton but polyester mixes. You have to read the description for the actual fabric composition. It's a fault in their algorithms that when you specifically search for cotton or 100% cotton that this other crap shows up. I know they do this to get you to buy something. I NEVER buy clothes or sheets ot towels made of polyester.

2. Microplastics
Furthermore, brands use synthetic fibres like polyester, nylon and acrylic which take hundreds of years to biodegrade. A 2017 report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of all microplastics – tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastic – found in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles like polyester.

According to 2015 documentary The True Cost, the world consumes around 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year, 400% more than the consumption twenty years ago. The average American now generates 82 pounds of textile waste each year. The production of leather requires large amounts of feed, land, water and fossil fuels to raise livestock, while the tanning process is among the most toxic in all of the fashion supply chain because the chemicals used to tan leather- including mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives and various oils and dyes- is not biodegradable and contaminates water sources.

Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact in 2025 | Earth.Org https://share.google/VrptXkZ3QlcoVLXMe

[snot]

37. Ditto.

(And even the shirts that say they're 100% cotton feel scratchier and seem less absorbent – not sure what's up with that. I've noticed that their manufacture has been moved to Viet Nam, fwiw, and have started looking for cotton clothing made elsewhere.)

[Greg_In_SF]

19. Kimberly

Guilfoyle's face?

[Orrex]

20. It's like math, right?

Add the same amount everywhere, and it all cancels out?

Problem solved!

[Hugin]

29. "The solution to pollution is dilution."

It’s already been tried, Orrex.

What we need is deeper oceans!

[Jerry2144]

24. You mean it's not under the skin of all the women

the felon allows near him

[dexdah]

25. The Plasticene Epoch

Brought to you by ánthrōpos!

[FakeNoose]

27. It's funny, but for the last 10 years I've felt like my brain was turning into plastic

[Passages]

30. Ugh

[mountain grammy]

35. I feel kind of blessed

That I got to live my childhood without plastics. My sandwich was wrapped in waxed paper and put in a paper bag that I was supposed to bring home every day.
When I was 20, I used cloth diapers for my first son and had a diaper service, but plastic was taking over.
By the time I had my second son in1971, diaper service was gone and there were several brands of disposable diapers.
Now we’re made of plastic. Only took 50 years.

[LudwigPastorius]

36. Even birds are smart enough not to shit in their nests.

[DSandra]

40. Chemists and their employers don't seem to care about the consequences of their creations

We have standards for foods and drugs and some chemicals but so many more chemicals are being made and used than studied. Creators and manufacturers of these chemicals don't seem to give a damn about the consequences of their chemicals and substances. Effectively, we are all being used as guinea pigs by them.

[flying_wahini]

41. I know microplastics are found in gonads of all these young men coming down

With testicular cancer.
Microplastics now being found in placentas and breast milk.

It’s everywhere!
Microfiber rags, shopping bags, toys, straws, all these plastic containers with corrosive chemicals in them.
Saran Wrap covering almost all the food at the grocery store.