Plastic debris in the ocean: the characterization of marine plastics and their environmental impacts, situation analysis report

Abstract

9 1. Plastics in the marine environment 11 1.1. Sources and characteristics 11 1.2. Distribution in coastal and open oceans 14 1.3. Socio-economic impacts 16 2. Sampling and analyzing microplastics in the marine environment 19 2.1. Sampling in the marine compartments 19 2.2. Extraction from marine samples 21 2.3. Sorting, counting and weighing 22 2.4. Polymers, additives and pollutants 24 3. The impacts of plastics on marine organisms 27 3.1. The physical effects of plastic ingestion 27 3.2. The transport of invasive species 30 3.3. Chemicals associated with plastics 31 4. Existing legislation and related initiatives 35 4.1. Global level initiatives 35 4.2. Regional and national level initiatives 38 5. Summary and recommendations 43 5.1. Plastics in marine environments 43 5.2. Sources of marine plastics 43 5.3. Effects on marine organisms 45 5.4. Solutions and recommendations 45 References 46