Image copyright IPRC Image caption Sarah-Jeanne Royer with some of the plastic she's studied

It's your classic movie eureka moment.

Young researcher Sarah-Jeanne Royer set out to measure methane gas coming from biological activity in sea water.

Instead, in a "happy accident" she found that the plastic bottles holding the samples were a bigger source of this powerful warming molecule than the bugs in the water.

Now she's published further details in a study into the potential warming impact of gases seeping from plastic waste.

"It was a totally unexpected discovery," Dr Royer told BBC News.

"Some members of the lab were experimenting with high density polyethylene bottles looking at methane biological production, but the concentrations were much higher than expected."

"So we realised that the emissions were not just coming from the biology but from the bottle that we were using for the experiment."

After graduating from university in Barcelona, Dr Royer found herself in Hawaii, leading teams of volunteers who were helping to remove plastic from beaches at weekends, while working on the chemistry of the substance during the week.

Image copyright OLIVIER POIRION

Now she's published her report after spending a year and a half testing different types of plastic in and out of seawater to see if they emit methane and ethylene, which both contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Dr Royer found that the most widely-used plastic, the stuff used to make shopping bags, is the one that produces the greatest amount of these warming gases.

At the end of the study, after 212 days in the sun, this plastic emitted 176 times more methane than at the start of the experiment.

Ironically, when plastics were exposed to air the amount of methane emitted was double the level from sea water.

What's causing these emissions?

In short it's the Sun. Solar radiation acts on the surface of plastic waste. As it breaks down, becomes cracked and pitted, these defects increase the surface area of plastic available to sunlight which accelerates gas production. Even in the dark, the gas continues to seep out.

"I'm in the field every week," said Dr Royer.

Image copyright Sarah-Jeanne Royer Image caption Plastic waste washed up in a Hawaiian bay

"When I touch a piece of plastic, if there's a little impact on that plastic it's degrading into hundred of pieces pretty much as we look at it."

Is this a big deal?

Up to now, the link between plastics and climate change was mainly focussed on the use of fossil fuels like oil and gas in the manufacture of plastic items.

It's also known that when plastics degrade in the environment, they release CO2. Experts have welcomed this report as it is the first time that anyone has tried to quantify other warming gases emerging from plastic waste.

"Low density polyethylene (LDPE) does emit ethylene, methane and propane, even at low temperatures that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions," Prof Ashwani Gupta from the University of Maryland, who was not involved in the study, told BBC News.

"It is nice to see some quantified emissions on greenhouse gases for the selected polyethylene. The results clearly show variation in gas emission levels among the different polyethylene sources."

Image copyright Sarah-Jeann Royer

While the amounts of methane and ethylene being produced right now from plastics are very small, Dr Royer is concerned about the future and the fact that as plastic breaks down, more surface area is exposed, increasing the amount of the gases that drifts into the atmosphere.

"If we look at all the plastic produced since 1950, it's pretty much all still on the planet, and it's just degrading into smaller and smaller pieces, so we know the industry is booming and in the next 30 years and more and more greenhouse gases will be produced - that's a big thing."

What have the plastics industry said?

Nothing much at this point. According to Dr Royer, when she approached companies in the field, they weren't keen on talking about it.

"I told them I was a scientist and I was trying to understand the chemistry of the plastic," she said.

"I was trying to order some plastics of different densities and I was asking questions about the process and they all said we don't want to have contact with you anymore.

"I think the plastic industry absolutely knows, and they don't want this to be shared with the world."

How have other scientists reacted?

"Research on plastic waste is revealing it to be a disturbing pandora's box," said Dr Montserrat Filella, a chemist at the University of Geneva.

"As research expands our knowledge, we are realising that plastics can be insidious in many other ways. For instance, as vectors of 'hidden pollutants', such as heavy metals present in them or, now, as a source of greenhouse gases. And, in all cases, throughout the entire lifetime of the plastic."

Image copyright Sarah-Jeanne Royer Image caption Plastic debris from the tsunami in Japan is still causing problems in Hawaii

Others agreed that further research was urgently needed.

"No one knows how much methane and ethylene are being released from these sources. We don't know if it is adding significant amounts of greenhouse gases to our atmosphere," said Dr Jennifer Lynch, a marine environment expert from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist).

"It's another consequence of the use of plastics and it needs further examination." </s> More than 10 years and one week ago this newspaper published my first Our Ocean Backyard column. The topic was salmon. My friend, Gary Griggs of the Institute of Marine Sciences, agreed to alternate writing duties with me every other week, and off we went. When we started we discussed whether there would be enough information to sustain the column but today, there are topics, for good and for bad, to keep us in a sea of words for years.

I wrote last time about the growing problem of plastic pollution, which was highlighted at the 6th annual International Marine Debris Conference in San Diego, sponsored by the United Nations and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and attended by more than 700 people from countries around the globe.

The movement to research and stem plastic pollution has grown since Charles Moore, a Long Beach resident, first discovered it while returning from Hawaii to Southern California on his boat in 1997.

At the time there was discussion of two large “garbage patches” floating in the Pacific, but the reality was more like a plastic soup, with plastic breaking down through a process known as photo degradation where sun, wind and moving salt water break it down to smaller pieces that retain their synthetic polymer structure for many years, doing damage over that time.

Today there is a plastic pollution problem in the great gyres of the world ocean, 80 percent of the trash found there came from land.

In 2014, a global study lead by the 5 Gyres Institute found estimated that there are 5.25 trillion pieces, or nearly 269,000 tons, of plastic in the ocean. There are also concerns that they are ingested by marine life, thereby carrying toxins that can concentrate as they move through the food web.

Much of the research presented at the international marine debris conference last month highlighted the trend that plastics are getting smaller and more ubiquitous throughout the marine environment from the ocean surface, through the water column, on the sea floor and in wildlife.

One conference abstract, on the chemistry of plastic marine debris, said: “When (it) enter(s) the environment, plastic undergoes physical, chemical and biological weathering which decreases its size via fragmentation and alters its original shape, chemical composition and surface characteristics.” Another, on the effects of small plastic particles on fish and invertebrates, said: “Microplastic pollution has been identified in habitats and animals, in both freshwater and marine ecosystems, from all over the world.”

Tiny, sometimes microscopic, pieces of plastic would be difficult, and expensive, to remove from the marine environment without also capturing large amounts of by-catch. Activists who are fighting the problem world-wide have focused on eliminating single-use plastic, such as bags, straws, disposable coffee cup lids, plastic utensils and other products which can be carried by water or wind to the ocean after often less than a day of service.

Another effective tactic is intervention to remove debris before it reaches the ocean by conducting beach cleanups. Worldwide more than 500,000 volunteers removed 16 million pounds of trash in 91 counties on a September day in 2014. While cleansing the ocean of plastic debris is becoming an increasingly unlikely proposition, eliminating the input of plastic into the marine environment is a feasible, and desirable, enterprise.

Dan Haifley is executive director of O’Neill Sea Odyssey. He can be reached at dhaifley@oneillseaodyssey.org. </s> Researchers at The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch foundation developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, today published the first-ever estimate of plastic emissions from rivers into the world’s oceans. Writing in Nature Communications, they calculate that rivers annually transport between 1.15 and 2.41 million metric tons of plastic waste into our oceans. Two-thirds of this input comes from the 20 most polluting rivers, most of which are located on the Asian continent.

The distribution of plastic in the oceans can only be mapped if the main sources of plastic pollution are known. By pinpointing these sources, The Ocean Cleanup can target the best possible locations in the ocean for the deployment of its cleanup systems. Additionally, knowledge about the sources of plastic pollution can aid prevention efforts.

It is commonly accepted that most plastic found in the oceans originates from land-based sources. It is also well known that rivers play a particularly important role in transporting mismanaged plastic waste from land into the ocean. Until now, however, researchers had quantified neither the total amount of plastic flowing out of the world’s rivers, nor how much plastic is emitted by each individual river. With today’s study, this information is now available.

For this study, a team lead by The Ocean Cleanup researcher Laurent Lebreton created a model from the combined global geospatial information on: population density, waste management, topography, hydrography and the locations of dams. After calibrating the model against field measurements of plastic flows from various rivers across the world, it was used to obtain a global picture of the annual river plastic emissions into the oceans.

Of the 40,760 ocean-bound rivers studied, just 20 are responsible for two-thirds of the global plastic input. In total, between 1.15 and 2.41 million metric tons of plastic are deposited into the oceans by rivers. The model also shows that plastic input from rivers is highly correlated with drainage of debris from the river banks and creeks leading into main waterways, and that this river-to-ocean input therefore varies per season. Worldwide, three quarters of the plastic released annually enters the oceans between May and October.

Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup stated: “We’re pleased to see how many initiatives have been taken in the past few years to raise awareness of the ocean pollution problem. However, for our work in the deep ocean to succeed in the long run, it’s crucial that governments and other organizations speed up their efforts to mitigate the sources of the problem we aim to resolve. The results of this latest study can assist with those efforts.” </s> The amount of deadly plastic in our oceans could treble if we do not act.

Plastics is one of a number of environmental issues facing the world’s seas, along with rising sea levels and warming oceans, and metal and chemical pollution, the Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the Government said.

Rubbish such as single-use plastics which take decades to decompose are a huge threat to marine life – and our planet.

The scientists behind the report warned of the danger of the oceans being ‘out of sight, out of mind’, with more known about the surface of Mars and the Moon than the deep sea bed.

Oceans are hugely important to the UK, with 95% of the country’s international trade travelling by sea, the internet carried by subsea cables, and oceans storing carbon dioxide and heat and producing oxygen and food.

There are major opportunities for robotics, artificial intelligence and automated technology to fill gaps in understanding of the oceans and how best to manage them, the experts said.

For example, the submarine Boaty McBoatface has recently completed an unmanned mission under Antarctica’s ice shelf to assess whether the ice is melting from below due to warmer seas.

Satellite technology can prevent illegal fishing and autonomous underwater sensors can check if carbon dioxide is escaping from subsea carbon storage facilities.

Work is also beginning on the impacts of plastic in the ocean, as experts are not sure what threats it poses, Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser for the Environment Department said.

Plastic pollution, which is set to treble between 2015 and 2025 without intervention, has a physical presence in the oceans, and can accumulate on the coasts or in particular areas of the sea.

But the toxic effects when they break down and end up inside marine organisms are not clear, he said.

But he added: ‘Even in absence of research, there is a precautionary principle to take here, which is we should minimise the amount of plastic, both macro-plastic and micro-plastic, going into the marine environment, in order to make sure that if there are toxic effects, those are being dealt with.’

Efforts to reduce plastic pollution should focus on preventing it entering the sea, introducing new biodegradable plastics and public awareness campaigns about marine protection.

Professor Ed Hill, executive director of the National Oceanography Centre, said it was time to change the attitude of what goes on below the surface as ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and have more of a ‘Mission to Planet Ocean’ approach.

He said: ‘When people get to see what is in the ocean, and the Blue Planet series and so on have helped people to visualise it, and then I think their reaction is twofold, one is complete wonder at what is there, and in other cases complete horror at what we’re potentially doing to it.

‘It’s this sense of the unexplored world on our own planet, but also it’s important to us, we know less about the bottom of the sea than the moon or Mars, but nothing lives on the moon or Mars, but things live in our ocean and they’re vitally important to us.’

The oceans could provide new medicines, minerals and energy, he said.

The report said international collaboration and long-term planning was needed to protect the environment and enable the UK to make the most of the maritime economy.

A shocking video taken by a diver off the coast of Bali shows the grotesque scale of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

Diver Rich Horner posted the clip, recorded at a dive site called Manta Point, on his social media with the caption: ‘Plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic cups, plastic sheets, plastic buckets, plastic sachets, plastic straws, plastic baskets, plastic bags, more plastic bags, plastic, plastic. So much plastic!’ </s> The amount of plastic ending up in the ocean is set to treble in a decade without action to curb the problem, a major report has warned.

Plastics is one of a number of environmental issues facing the world’s seas, along with rising sea levels and warming oceans, and metal and chemical pollution, the Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the Government said.

But there are also opportunities for the UK to cash in the global “ocean economy” – which is set to double to 3 trillion US dollars (£2 trillion) by 2030 – in areas where the country is a world leader, such as offshore wind.

The scientists behind the report warned of the danger of the oceans being “out of sight, out of mind”, with more known about the surface of Mars and the Moon than the deep sea bed.

But it is hugely important to the UK, with 95% of the country’s international trade travelling by sea, the internet carried by subsea cables, and oceans storing carbon dioxide and heat and producing oxygen and food.

There are major opportunities for robotics, artificial intelligence and automated technology to fill gaps in understanding of the oceans and how best to manage them, the experts said.

For example, the submarine Boaty McBoatface has recently completed an unmanned mission under Antarctica’s ice shelf to assess whether the ice is melting from below due to warmer seas.

Satellite technology can prevent illegal fishing and autonomous underwater sensors can check if carbon dioxide is escaping from subsea carbon storage facilities.

Work is also beginning on the impacts of plastic in the ocean, as experts are not sure what threats it poses, Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser for the Environment Department said.

Plastic pollution, which is set to treble between 2015 and 2025 without intervention, has a physical presence in the oceans, and can accumulate on the coasts or in particular areas of the sea.

But the toxic effects when they break down and end up inside marine organisms are not clear, he said.

But he added: “Even in absence of research, there is a precautionary principle to take here, which is we should minimise the amount of plastic, both macro-plastic and micro-plastic, going into the marine environment, in order to make sure that if there are toxic effects, those are being dealt with.”

Efforts to reduce plastic pollution should focus on preventing it entering the sea, introducing new biodegradable plastics and public awareness campaigns about marine protection.

Professor Ed Hill, executive director of the National Oceanography Centre, said it was time to change the attitude of what goes on below the surface as “out of sight, out of mind” and have more of a “Mission to Planet Ocean” approach.

He said: “When people get to see what is in the ocean, and the Blue Planet series and so on have helped people to visualise it, and then I think their reaction is twofold, one is complete wonder at what is there, and in other cases complete horror at what we’re potentially doing to it.

“It’s this sense of the unexplored world on our own planet, but also it’s important to us, we know less about the bottom of the sea than the moon or Mars, but nothing lives on the moon or Mars, but things live in our ocean and they’re vitally important to us.”

The oceans could provide new medicines, minerals and energy, he said.

The report said international collaboration and long-term planning was needed to protect the environment and enable the UK to make the most of the maritime economy. </s> The amount of plastic ending up in the ocean is set to treble in a decade without action to curb the problem, a major report has warned.

Plastics is one of a number of environmental issues facing the world's seas, along with rising sea levels and warming oceans, and metal and chemical pollution, the Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the Government said.

But there are also opportunities for the UK to cash in the global "ocean economy" - which is set to double to 3 trillion US dollars (£2 trillion) by 2030 - in areas where the country is a world leader, such as offshore wind.

The scientists behind the report warned of the danger of the oceans being "out of sight, out of mind", with more known about the surface of Mars and the Moon than the deep sea bed.

But it is hugely important to the UK, with 95% of the country's international trade travelling by sea, the internet carried by subsea cables, and oceans storing carbon dioxide and heat and producing oxygen and food.

There are major opportunities for robotics, artificial intelligence and automated technology to fill gaps in understanding of the oceans and how best to manage them, the experts said.

For example, the submarine Boaty McBoatface has recently completed an unmanned mission under Antarctica's ice shelf to assess whether the ice is melting from below due to warmer seas.

Satellite technology can prevent illegal fishing and autonomous underwater sensors can check if carbon dioxide is escaping from subsea carbon storage facilities.

Work is also beginning on the impacts of plastic in the ocean, as experts are not sure what threats it poses, Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser for the Environment Department said.

Plastic pollution, which is set to treble between 2015 and 2025 without intervention, has a physical presence in the oceans, and can accumulate on the coasts or in particular areas of the sea. </s> It identified the rise of plastic in oceans, along with rising temperatures and sea levels and chemical pollution, as some of the biggest problems the marine environment faces.

The report found that 70% of marine litter is non-degradable plastic which is projected to increase threefold between 2015 and 2025.

Experts suggested the government needed to be more strategic in its approach to the sea in order to successfully halt some of the long-term pollution issues.

"The major response is likely to lie in preventing it from entering the sea, introducing new biodegradable plastics, and potentially public awareness campaigns about marine protection," the report said. The UK economy relies heavily on oceans with 95% of trade traveling by sea. The report also suggested that the UK had opportunities to capitalize on the "ocean economy" (sea-based industries), which it says could double in size by 2030 to $3 trillion. "Both the opportunities and the challenges set out in this important report are global in scale and demand our urgent attention," Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister Tariq Ahmad said in a statement accompanying the report."We must keep pushing our scientific understanding of the oceans, harness new technologies, and support commercial innovation." Professor Ed Hill, Executive Director of the National Oceanography Centre, said in a statement that the report showed more research was required to understand the effect plastic pollution is having on marine organisms. "There is still more work to be done to achieve greater knowledge of the marine environment and the impacts of climate change. This will be critical for making a success of the future that this report anticipates," he said. The issue of plastic pollution has become a notorious environmental subject over the last several years as researchers and activists have revealed it accumulating in areas of the sea and along once pristine coastlines. Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the Thames Estuary on January 2 in Cliffe, England. Related: How our throwaway culture is turning the sea into a graveyard Plastic has been found to choke marine wildlife, and has also entered the ocean food chain -- exposing marine life to toxic chemicals that can end up in the food on our plates. Around 150 million tons of plastic are already floating in our oceans -- with an additional eight million tons entering the water each year, according to the World Economic Forum . It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by weight if current rates of plastic dumping hold. In December, the UK was one of 193 countries that signed a UN resolution to eliminate plastic pollution in the sea. A month later the UK introduced what it described as one of the world's toughest bans on microbeads, outlawing the manufacture of products containing the harmful plastic particles </s> The amount of waste plastic in the oceans could treble in the next 10 years unless urgent action is taken to curb the problem, a report has warned. It’s estimated that a frankly staggering 12 million tonnes of plastic rubbish is dumped into the oceans every single year.

Plastic waste, along with global warming and industrial pollution present the largest dangers to our oceans warns the Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the Government. The scientists behind the report warned of the danger of the oceans being “out of sight, out of mind”, with more known about the surface of Mars and the Moon than the deep sea bed.

Professor Ed Hill, executive director of the National Oceanography Centre, said it was time to change the attitude of what goes on below the surface as “out of sight, out of mind” and have more of a “Mission to Planet Ocean” approach. He said: “When people get to see what is in the ocean, and the Blue Planet series and so on have helped people to visualise it, and then I think their reaction is twofold, one is complete wonder at what is there, and in other cases complete horror at what we’re potentially doing to it. “It’s this sense of the unexplored world on our own planet, but also it’s important to us, we know less about the bottom of the sea than the moon or Mars, but nothing lives on the moon or Mars, but things live in our ocean and they’re vitally important to us.” Plastic pollution, which is set to treble between 2015 and 2025 without intervention, has a physical presence in the oceans, and can accumulate on the coasts or in particular areas of the sea. The spread of plastic pollution in our oceans has gotten so bad that in September last year scientists actually found lumps of polystyrene near the North Pole.

The ocean and its health is hugely important to the UK, with 95% of the country’s international trade travelling by sea, the internet carried by subsea cables, and oceans storing carbon dioxide and heat and producing oxygen and food. But there are also opportunities for the UK to cash in the global “ocean economy” – which is set to double to 3 trillion US dollars (£2 trillion) by 2030 – in areas where the country is a world leader, such as offshore wind.

There are major opportunities for robotics, artificial intelligence and automated technology to fill gaps in understanding of the oceans and how best to manage them, the experts said. For example, the submarine Boaty McBoatface has recently completed an unmanned mission under Antarctica’s ice shelf to assess whether the ice is melting from below due to warmer seas. Satellite technology can prevent illegal fishing and autonomous underwater sensors can check if carbon dioxide is escaping from subsea carbon storage facilities. </s> The amount of plastic in the oceans is expected to triple in just ten years, a government report warns today.

This key environmental problem risks being ‘out of sight, out of mind’ with more known about the surface of Mars and the Moon than the deep sea bed, it added.

The toll of plastic pollution in the sea could be 150million tonnes by 2025 – treble the 50million tonnes estimated in 2015.

The alert comes days after a Daily Mail investigation revealed how microplastics are contaminating the food we eat and the air we breathe. Fish fillet samples from eight shops showed worrying levels of the tiny particles. The research, which continues a decade of campaigning against plastic, prompted calls for action from the United Nations, ministers and health campaigners.

Scientists behind today’s report said the oceans are vital to Britain as 95 per cent of the UK’s international trade travels by water, while the internet is connected by underwater cables. Our oceans also store carbon dioxide and heat while producing oxygen and food, the Foresight Future of the Sea Report stressed.

It also examined opportunities for Britain offered by the global maritime economy. The value of this is set to double to £2trillion by 2030 in areas where the UK is a world leader, such as offshore wind power.

On the growing blight of plastic pollution, the document warned this will leave a physical presence, accumulating on coasts or in particular areas of ocean.

Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said scientists have only just begun to examine the toxic effects of plastic breaking down and ending up inside marine organisms.

He added: ‘Even in the absence of research, there is a precautionary principle to take here. We should minimise the amount of plastic, both macro-plastic and micro-plastic, going into the marine environment in order to make sure that if there are toxic effects, those are being dealt with.’

The report also warned plastic litter on coasts can increase the risk of dangerous bacteria in the water, such as E.coli.

It said efforts to reduce plastic pollution should focus on stopping it entering the sea, developing new biodegradable materials and public awareness campaigns.

Professor Ed Hill, executive director of the National Oceanography Centre, said it was time to stop thinking of what goes on below the surface as ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and have more of a ‘Mission to Planet Ocean’ approach. He added: ‘When people see what is in the ocean, and the Blue Planet series and so on have helped, their reaction is twofold – wonder at what is there and horror at what we’re potentially doing to it.

‘We know less about the bottom of the sea than the Moon or Mars but nothing lives on the Moon or Mars ... things live in our ocean and they’re vital to us.’

Pointing to the potential of oceans, the report said they could provide new medicines, minerals and energy. There are also opportunities for robotics, artificial intelligence and automated technology to improve understanding of the oceans and how best to manage them, it added.
A study is published suggesting that loose plastic objects in the ocean release more methane than previously thought.