IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0281596.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world’s oceans—Urgent solutions required

Author

Listed:
  • Marcus Eriksen
  • Win Cowger
  • Lisa M Erdle
  • Scott Coffin
  • Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez
  • Charles J Moore
  • Edward J Carpenter
  • Robert H Day
  • Martin Thiel
  • Chris Wilcox

Abstract

As global awareness, science, and policy interventions for plastic escalate, institutions around the world are seeking preventative strategies. Central to this is the need for precise global time series of plastic pollution with which we can assess whether implemented policies are effective, but at present we lack these data. To address this need, we used previously published and new data on floating ocean plastics (n = 11,777 stations) to create a global time-series that estimates the average counts and mass of small plastics in the ocean surface layer from 1979 to 2019. Today’s global abundance is estimated at approximately 82–358 trillion plastic particles weighing 1.1–4.9 million tonnes. We observed no clear detectable trend until 1990, a fluctuating but stagnant trend from then until 2005, and a rapid increase until the present. This observed acceleration of plastic densities in the world’s oceans, also reported for beaches around the globe, demands urgent international policy interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcus Eriksen & Win Cowger & Lisa M Erdle & Scott Coffin & Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez & Charles J Moore & Edward J Carpenter & Robert H Day & Martin Thiel & Chris Wilcox, 2023. "A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world’s oceans—Urgent solutions required," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0281596
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281596
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281596
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281596&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0281596?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clare Ostle & Richard C. Thompson & Derek Broughton & Lance Gregory & Marianne Wootton & David G. Johns, 2019. "The rise in ocean plastics evidenced from a 60-year time series," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-6, December.
    2. Laurent Lebreton & Anthony Andrady, 2019. "Future scenarios of global plastic waste generation and disposal," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-11, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mutuku, Judith & Tocock, Mark & Yanotti, Maria & Tinch, Dugald & Hatton MacDonald, Darla, 2024. "Public perceptions of the value of reducing marine plastics in Australian waters," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    2. Cordier, Mateo & Uehara, Takuro & Baztan, Juan & Jorgensen, Bethany & Yan, Huijie, 2021. "Plastic pollution and economic growth: The influence of corruption and lack of education," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    3. Alessandro De Matteis & Fethiye Burcu Turkmen Ceylan & Mona Daoud & Anne Kahuthu, 2022. "A systemic approach to tackling ocean plastic debris," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 136-145, March.
    4. World Bank, 2024. "Unlocking Financing to Combat the Plastics Crisis - Opportunities, Risks, and Recommendations for Plastic Credits," World Bank Publications - Reports 41866, The World Bank Group.
    5. Huijie Yan & Mateo Cordier & Takuro Uehara, 2024. "Future Projections of Global Plastic Pollution: Scenario Analyses and Policy Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.
    6. Evangelos Danopoulos & Maureen Twiddy & Jeanette M Rotchell, 2020. "Microplastic contamination of drinking water: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, July.
    7. Nakayama, Tadanobu & Osako, Masahiro, 2023. "Development of a process-based eco-hydrology model for evaluating the spatio-temporal dynamics of macro- and micro-plastics for the whole of Japan," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 476(C).
    8. Khumbelo Mabadahanye & Mwazvita T. B. Dalu & Linton F. Munyai & Farai Dondofema & Tatenda Dalu, 2025. "Perceptions and Knowledge of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant Workers Regarding Plastic Pollution and Removal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-13, January.
    9. Rumana Hossain & Md Tasbirul Islam & Riya Shanker & Debishree Khan & Katherine Elizabeth Sarah Locock & Anirban Ghose & Heinz Schandl & Rita Dhodapkar & Veena Sahajwalla, 2022. "Plastic Waste Management in India: Challenges, Opportunities, and Roadmap for Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-34, April.
    10. Xuemeng Zhang & Chao Liu & Yuexi Chen & Guanghong Zheng & Yinguang Chen, 2022. "Source separation, transportation, pretreatment, and valorization of municipal solid waste: a critical review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 11471-11513, October.
    11. Trieu Nguyen, Uyen Nhat & Van Lam, Do & Shim, Hyung Cheoul & Lee, Seung-Mo, 2021. "Leaf-derived porous carbon synthesized by carbothermic reduction," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 116-123.
    12. Chen Liu & Qiannan Zhuo & Yujiro Ishimura & Yasuhiko Hotta & Chika Aoki-Suzuki & Atsushi Watabe, 2025. "Regional Insights on the Usage of Single-Use Plastics and Their Disposal in Five Asian Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-29, May.
    13. Tobias Börger & Nick Hanley & Robert J. Johnston & Keila Meginnis & Tom Ndebele & Ghamz E. Ali Siyal & Frans de Vries, 2024. "Equity preferences and abatement cost sharing in international environmental agreements," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(1), pages 416-441, January.
    14. Alistair McIlgorm & Jian Xie, 2023. "The Costs of Environmental Degradation from Plastic Pollution in Selected Coastal Areas in the United Republic of Tanzania," World Bank Publications - Reports 39547, The World Bank Group.
    15. World Bank, 2023. "Tackling Plastics Pollution," World Bank Publications - Reports 40458, The World Bank Group.
    16. Andrea Ballatore & Teun Johannes Verhagen & Zhije Li & Stefano Cucurachi, 2022. "This city is not a bin: Crowdmapping the distribution of urban litter," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(1), pages 197-212, February.
    17. Mehrab Nodehi & Vahid Mohammad Taghvaee, 2022. "Applying Circular Economy to Construction Industry through Use of Waste Materials: A Review of Supplementary Cementitious Materials, Plastics, and Ceramics," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 987-1020, September.
    18. Edward Vingwe & Edgar Towa & Arne Remmen, 2020. "Danish Plastic Mass Flows Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-22, November.
    19. Aditya Chidepatil & Prabhleen Bindra & Devyani Kulkarni & Mustafa Qazi & Meghana Kshirsagar & Krishnaswamy Sankaran, 2020. "From Trash to Cash: How Blockchain and Multi-Sensor-Driven Artificial Intelligence Can Transform Circular Economy of Plastic Waste?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, April.
    20. Adina-Iuliana Jigani & Camelia Delcea & Corina Ioanăș, 2020. "Consumers’ Behavior in Selective Waste Collection: A Case Study Regarding the Determinants from Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-35, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0281596. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.