The World in 2030

152 The World in 2030
are now contaminated with microscopic plastic fragments.
In addition, large items of plastic debris are
known to be accumulating in the oceans and on
beaches, harming marine life including turtles, fish,
seabirds and mammals. 294
Around the world efforts are being made by both the
plastics industry and by legislators to reduce the scale of this
problem. The Pacific Ocean is particularly polluted and in
California action is being taken. The Record, a newspaper
published in Orange County, Southern California ran the
following story in February 2007:
Wildlife experts, state officials and plastics manufacturers
this month are putting more emphasis on
keeping nurdles out of the environment. The California
Ocean Protection Council passed a resolution
calling for manufacturers to keep closer tabs on the
pellets; and a bill proposed in the Legislature would
require increased monitoring of businesses that use
nurdles improperly.
Nurdles, of course, are only one piece of the plastic
problem. Worldwide, plastic makes up 60 per cent
to 80 per cent of ocean trash. In parts of the Pacific
Ocean, researchers have documented up to six times
more floating plastic than plankton, the microorganisms
that feed nearly all aquatic creatures. 295
These problems must be greatly reduced or, even better,
completely eliminated by 2030. The global plastics industry
is, itself, working to counter these problems. Operation