Microplastics and their Impact on the Marine Environment

Abstract

The present study investigates the negative impact of a marine polluter on the marine environment. Plastics degraded into micro and macroplastics harm the environment in many ways. Finding their way to the oceans cause increase in temperature at the surface and cooling in deeper waters. Degrading macroplastics releases potent greenhouse gases. More importantly, they are implicated to cause climate change. Plastic in the ocean affects its ability to act as a carbon sink by decelerating the “biogeochemical cycle of carbon”. The ocean is the largest natural sink for anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Various short- and long-term measures are also proposed to curb the flow of plastic waste into the Oceans.