By 2050, the amount of plastics in the ocean will outweigh the amount of fish, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. There are billions of pounds of plastic in the ocean, taking up about 40% of the ocean’s surface, the nonprofit says. Not only is wildlife endangered by ingesting plastics, but they frequently get tangled in it.
Single-use plastics surround people in their day-to-day lives: packaging, consumer goods, food and beverage containers, plastic bags. Once used and discarded, they end up in landfills and the ocean. Today, plastic can be found everywhere from both poles to the seafloor.
The U.S. alone generates more plastic waste than any other nation in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund. In 2019, the U.S. produced five times more plastic than the global average, a whopping 80 million tons of plastic. Additionally, the U.S. has a relatively low recycling rate compared to other countries, an average of 32%, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Germany recycles 66% of its waste.
Two surfers in Australia, Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski, were aware of the drastic damage single-use plastics have caused and came up with a solution. In 2015, they launched a project called Seabin. Similar to trash cans, the Seabin captures litter floating in Sydney’s ocean waterways. Since the Seabin’s debut, it has expanded to other areas around the world as well. Already, there are Seabins stationed in a few parts of the U.S., including at the Port of Everett in Washington and along the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Seabin, with a filtration system that collects waste while allowing clean water to pass through, has a 20-kilogram — or about 44 pounds — capacity for debris like oil, plastics and microplastics. Found in marinas and harbors, each Seabin collects garbage from the top 10 millimeters of water it rests on for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Seabin’s progress has been noticed by many, including the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium in Darling Harbor. The aquarium placed a Seabin in its harbor, and in September 2020, it managed to clean 590 pounds of litter over 16 days.
Since July 2020, the Seabin Foundation has removed over 120 tons of litter from Sydney’s harbors. In 2023 alone, the project managed to collect 4.7 million plastic items from the ocean. And by 2050, the project plans to clean up 100 cities using Seabins.
While the U.S. is actively funding projects to combat plastic pollution, these projects will take some time to be implemented. Time cannot be spared in regards to the climate crisis, and smaller, more immediate solutions to cleaning up plastic, like the Seabin, should be considered and implemented widely in the meantime.
By 2030, the EPA has proposed a National Recycling Strategy to increase recycling to 50%, according to the agency’s website. And in July, the White House released a strategic plan for phasing out single-use plastics across federal government operations by 2035. Given that the U.S. government is the largest purchaser of goods in the world, the decision could create significant change in how we value and use plastic in the U.S.
These current plans, which draw away from the main problem of plastic overproduction and the need to cease plastic production altogether, will not be fulfilled until six to 11 years from now. Within that time span, countless more plastic products will be produced and eventually thrown away.
The U.S counts all recyclable plastic exported out of the country as recycled, according to a Greenpeace USA report. However, all bets are off once the plastic leaves the country. No accountability for the trash we produce means it could end up anywhere: on the surface of the ocean, on the ocean floor or on neighboring countries’ shores.
If the U.S. wants to be effective in its efforts to reduce the consequences of single-use plastics, it should start to implement the necessary tools as soon as possible. The country cannot afford to wait any longer in combating climate change. Inventions like the Seabin should be taken into consideration, and perhaps even new innovations could be created.
Abby Frey is a senior at ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe High School. Contact her at abbyafrey@gmail.com.
The ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe New Mexican observes its 175th anniversary with a series highlighting some of the major stories and figures that have appeared in the paper's pages through its history. The collection also includes archival photo galleries.
