Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 12; p. e111913
• Main Authors: Eriksen, Marcus, Lebreton, Laurent C M, Carson, Henry S, Thiel, Martin, Moore, Charles J, Borerro, Jose C, Galgani, Francois, Ryan, Peter G, Reisser, Julia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 10-12-2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Debris; Dispersal; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Expeditions; Floating; Gyres; Hydrodynamics; Life Sciences; Linear Models; Marine environment; Marine pollution; Microplastics; Models, Theoretical; Ocean surface; Oceans; Oceans and Seas; Plastic debris; Plastic pollution; Plastics; Pollution; Pollution abatement; Polymers; Remote regions; Southern Hemisphere; Statistics; Surveys; Vertical mixing; Water Pollution; Weighing; Wind; New Zealand; Indian Ocean; United States > US; Europe; South Pacific; South Africa; California; Chile; Mediterranean Sea; India
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111913

Plastic pollution is ubiquitous throughout the marine environment, yet estimates of the global abundance and weight of floating plastics have lacked data, particularly from the Southern Hemisphere and remote regions. Here we report an estimate of the total number of plastic particles and their weight floating in the world's oceans from 24 expeditions (2007-2013) across all five sub-tropical gyres, costal Australia, Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean Sea conducting surface net tows (N = 680) and visual survey transects of large plastic debris (N = 891). Using an oceanographic model of floating debris dispersal calibrated by our data, and correcting for wind-driven vertical mixing, we estimate a minimum of 5.25 trillion particles weighing 268,940 tons. When comparing between four size classes, two microplastic <4.75 mm and meso- and macroplastic >4.75 mm, a tremendous loss of microplastics is observed from the sea surface compared to expected rates of fragmentation, suggesting there are mechanisms at play that remove <4.75 mm plastic particles from the ocean surface.