Hong Kong’s plastic pellet problem

I wonder how much marine life was affected by this. The link does not have any images of marine lives but has few pics of the shoreline that was affected after the recent storm.

During this July’s typhoon, a vessel carrying sacks of plastic pellets off the coast of Hong Kong was rocked by the category 4 hurricane winds, jettisoning some 150 tons of snow-like plastic confetti into the surrounding water.

LINK

Looks like polystyrene or polyethylene. The good news is that UV light (sunlight) breaks down both materials.

Originally posted by JIMC5499
Looks like polystyrene or polyethylene. The good news is that UV light (sunlight) breaks down both materials.

The problem being that most plastics only break down into the pellets the OP is talking about.

Nurdles

Send in the bacteria:

Disappearing debris

Plastic-eating bacteria might help explain why the amount of debris in the ocean has levelled off, despite continued pollution. But researchers don't yet know whether the digestion produces harmless by-products, or whether it might introduce toxins into the food chain.

"To understand if it's a good thing or not, we have to understand the entire system," says Mincer.

Plastics contain toxins such as phthalates, and also absorb additional toxic chemicals such as persistent organic pollutants from the ocean, says Mark Browne, an ecologist at University College Dublin in Ireland, who was not involved with the project. Those chemicals could leach out into the microscopic animals that eat the bacteria, or broken down microscopic plastic particles could enter cells and release their chemicals there, he says.

"Whether or not that material then passes up the food chain is something of critical importance," he says. "It's yet another mechanism for the particles of plastic that we throw away to potentially come back to haunt us.

www.nature.com...
Interesting that they are unsure about the waste produced from the bacteria and if it gets reabsorbed into the food chain. At least the plastic is getting broken down some.
Another idea that has already made it to production that does not create toxic waste:

Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and other countries practice it. It yields useable energy, but it’s not the cleanest practice in the world either. Bioplastech’s process works like this. Polypropylene (plastic) is cooked until it turns into a styrene oil. The oil is then fed to microorganisms, which metabolically turn it into globules of fatty acids. When 60 percent of the bacteria consists of those fatty acids, the microorganism is split open and the harvested fatty acids are converted to a biodegradable plastic. See why bacteria make such good workers? Keep your eye on Ireland in cleantech and advance science, by the way. For years, the Irish tech industry primarily concentrated on serving as an outsourcing destination for multinationals. But in about 2000, the government — realizing that Ireland was no longer a low-cost center — began to invest in technology transfer center and incubators.

www.greentechmedia.com...

Originally posted by JIMC5499
Looks like polystyrene or polyethylene. The good news is that UV light (sunlight) breaks down both materials.

Too bad photodegradation only breaks the plastic up into smaller and smaller particles. It's not the same as radioactive decay where the harmful substance potentially decays into something inert..

Atleast its not being used to become some substance form for a blue beam type project. I know I think waaaaay ouutta box, looks around for box there it is
. I have been trying to figure if there are material components to make the SHOW more realistic?

components:
fake uav
nano distributers in the skys for crafts to form hence op response
laser based energy wi fi to crafts from ground and satilite to keep craft moving and allow them to fire
massive labs either underground or on moon with genetic materials formed into bi ped creatures that can perform ground based functions like troops Creatures make up hmm visualize a mad scientist w/o limits and picture what it would create to install fear???? especially a fear from some who may come looking similar FROM SPACE AS WELL

Thank goodness its only thoughts The sea life by now are beginnig to develop ways to deal with human waste in their habitats abroad

reply to post by Ophiuchus 13


Nothing in your post relates to reality. Its a bunch of plastic pebbles in the ocean. Not really a conspiracy...

Originally posted by boncho
reply to post by Ophiuchus 13

 

Nothing in your post relates to reality. Its a bunch of plastic pebbles in the ocean. Not really a conspiracy...

I think waaaaay ouutta box sometimes boncho.