The numbers in boxes refer to the abundance of plastic debris (green) or microplastics (MP, purple) in different ecosystem compartments. The seafloor and sea ice are areas of plastic accumulation. Plastic pollution can be generated by households, traffic, agriculture, wastewater treatment, landfills, illegal dumping, industry, shipyards, tourism, ships, fisheries and offshore industry, and be transported to and/or within the Arctic via the atmosphere, rivers, ocean currents, sea ice and eroding permafrost. This evidence has prompted a Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME, Arctic Council) working group desktop study on marine litter and microplastics in the Arctic 16 to gauge the need for a Regional Action Plan, which, in turn, led to a mandate to assess the status and trends by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme 17. The formation of a sixth accumulation area in the Nordic Seas has been suggested by model projections 11 and is corroborated by an increase in marine debris over time 12, 13 and comparatively high microplastic concentrations in the Arctic 14, 15. However, in the past five years, high levels of plastic pollution have been found in the Arctic (Fig. Polar regions are still perceived as pristine. Although millions of tonnes of plastics enter the oceans annually, it is currently unknown where in the ocean 99% of the small plastic debris ends up 9, pointing to yet unaccounted for accumulation areas 10. Plastic is also extensively used in maritime operations such as fishing, aquaculture, shipping and offshore operations, leading to substantial additional leakage into marine environments. 7), respectively) due to sunlight, mechanical abrasion, biotic interaction, wave action 8 and temperature fluctuations. Therefore, plastic is a planetary boundary threat 5, 6, especially once it fragments into microplastic and nanoplastic (size ≤5 mm and ≤1 μm (ref. Every year, 19–23 million metric tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste are transferred from land-based sources to water globally 2.Īs plastics are designed to be durable, they persist in the environment for long periods of time and become widely dispersed 3, 4. Because of its low price, plastic has become one of the most widely used materials, especially in the packaging industry, and now forms an integral part of municipal waste. Industrial plastic production has grown rapidly since the 1950s, reaching 368 million tonnes globally per year by 2019 (ref. Mitigation is urgently needed at both regional and international levels to decrease plastic production and utilization, achieve circularity and optimize solid waste management and wastewater treatment. Even if plastic emissions are halted today, fragmentation of legacy plastic will lead to an increasing microplastic burden in Arctic ecosystems, which are already under pressure from anthropogenic warming. Early evidence also suggests interactions between climate change and plastic pollution. Population-level information is sparse, but interactions such as entanglements and ingestion of marine debris have been recorded for mammals, seabirds, fish and invertebrates. Once in the Arctic, plastic pollution accumulates in certain areas and affects local ecosystems. Although some pollution is from local sources - fisheries, landfills, wastewater and offshore industrial activity - distant regions are a substantial source, as plastic is carried from lower latitudes to the Arctic by ocean currents, atmospheric transport and rivers. In this Review, we describe the sources and impacts of Arctic plastic pollution, including plastic debris and microplastics, which have infiltrated terrestrial and aquatic systems, the cryosphere and the atmosphere. Plastic pollution is now pervasive in the Arctic, even in areas with no apparent human activity, such as the deep seafloor.
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