How the Ocean is feeding our garbage back to us

In a shocking study, results concluded that for every 100 grams of mussels consumed, you're ingesting 70 tiny pieces of microplastic. If you're a seafood lover (or Earth warrior) this number is probably setting off bells, alarms, whistles and everything in between. 

At this point, you're probably wondering what microplastic is and why it's harmful. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic debris (under 5mm) that are created when the process of larger plastic items breaking down.The top pollutants are; plastic straws, styrofoam, grocery bags, take-out containers, microbeads (now banned) and plastics found in textiles, like our beloved yoga pants. 

Here's where things get a little shady

"Microplastics absorb or carry organic contaminants, such as PCBs, pesticides, flame retardants and hormone-disrupting compounds of many kinds".

Looking at the food chain, mussels are one of our Ocean's natural filtration systems. They filter sea water through their bodies to receive essential nutrients. But here's the catch; whatever particles and contaminants are lingering in our sea water attaches itself and stay within the mussel...and as the cycle of the food chain and karma suggests; what goes around comes around.

If that's not concerning enough, 100% of all mussels sampled from along the UK coast and supermarkets contained these toxic micro-plastics.

"Microplastics are now coming back to us in the food in our supermarkets"

-Dr Alan Reynolds, Brunel University London

Now is the time to stand up and protect our Oceans. Take the pledge to limit plastic use, or even better, embrace a waste-free lifestyle. Together we can halt the process of microplastics from consuming our oceans and all the life within it. 

Share this post with friends and family and lets do our part to save the Ocean.

REFERENCES

• "All wild and shop-bought mussels tested in UK ingested plastics, study shows". http://www.itv.com/news/2018-06-08/all-wild-and-shop-bought-mussels-tested-in-uk-ingested-plastics-study-shows/ . (accessed June 2018)
• Weikle, Brandie. "Microplastics found in supermarket fish, shellfish." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/microplastics-fish-shellfish-1.3954947 (accessed September 11, 2017).