Plastic oceans

Polymeric materials used in face masks can be a potential source of plastic and breakdown into microplastic pollution.

Abandoned face masks found on Philippine reef

6 months ago By Rosemary E Lunn

The popular dive spot is southeast of the Philippine capital, Manila.

BBC Philippine correspondent Howard Johnson joined dive professionals from Anilao Scuba Dive Centre as they resumed diving, following the national lockdown. The dive centre is affiliated to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Green Fins, which promotes sustainable marine tourism in South-East Asia.

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Car tyres are a major source of ocean microplastics

Tyres a major source of ocean microplastics

1 year ago By Main minion

A new study conducted at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research suggests wind-borne microplastics are a bigger source of ocean pollution than rivers, the route that has attracted most attention to date.

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Plastics floating in the ocean build a coating of algae and microorganisms that smells edible to turtles.

Why do sea turtles eat plastic? Perhaps because it smells good

1 year ago By Main minion

To understand sea turtle behavior around ocean plastics, the research team compared how sea turtles in a lab setting reacted to smelling odors of turtle food, ocean-soaked plastic, clean plastic and water.

The turtles ignored the scents of clean plastic and water, but responded to the odors of food and ocean-soaked plastics by showing foraging behavior. This included poking their noses out of the water repeatedly as they tried to smell the food source, and increasing their activity as they searched.

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NOC hosts Marine Plastic Pollution Talk

3 years ago By Rosemary E Lunn

On 10 May 2018 David Jones will be talking on "Marine Plastic Pollution: How did we get here and what can we do about it?"

Plastic pollution is undoubtedly one of the biggest environmental issues we face at the moment. Plastic has only been in our lives for around seventy years, so how did we get to where we are, what went wrong? More importantly, what can we do about it?" David Jones.

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'A Plastic Ocean' - Coming Soon

5 years ago By Rosemary E Lunn

Only a fraction of the plastic we produce is recycled. Every year 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into our oceans. A fact that most of the world either ignores or is unaware of. Now an adventure documentary will expose the horrible truth behind the plastic we throw away.