Where are the Missing Plastics at Sea?

The global load of marine floating plastic litter in surface waters is much smaller thanexpected based on the loads of mismanaged plastic entering the marine environment.Therefore, identifying marine sinks that hold plastic litter is essential to assessing the risks,impacts, and plan interventions to manage this new facing problem. Recent research hasshown that mangrove trees occupy the intertidal fringe and develop a partially emerged rootsystem, pneumatophores as a sieve, forming an effective filter that trap different objectsand litters transported by currents, like floating plastic objects. In other words, mangrovesact as sinks for marine plastic litter as well as a barrier for anthropogenic debris (enteringfrom land to the sea) before they are dispersed in the marine environment. Furtheremore,some large plastics after released into the environment, might undergo a variety of bioticand abiotic processes through which they become smaller and smaller plastic particlesinstead of disappearing. These small pieces of plastic particles are called microplastics andare less than 5 mm in size and therefore they are not visible to the naked eye.