{"id":263385,"date":"2025-10-31T18:46:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/263385\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:46:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:46:14","slug":"plastic-pollution-spends-a-century-on-ocean-surface-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/263385\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic pollution spends a century on ocean surface, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethan GudgeSouth of England<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

They found that plastic would float on the surface for more than 100 years<\/p>\n

Plastic pollution in the ocean could remain on the water’s surface for more than a century, a new study has found.<\/p>\n

Scientists from HR Wallingford, in Oxfordshire, and Queen Mary University created a model to simulate the breakdown of plastic and how long it takes to end up in the deep sea. <\/p>\n

They found that existing pollution would still float on the surface for more than 100 years, even if no more floating plastic was dumped in the ocean.<\/p>\n

Those behind the study said the research offered “critical insights” into “the challenges of removing plastic from marine environments”.<\/p>\n

Prof Andrew Manning, technical director at HR Wallingford, said: “This study helps explain why so much of the plastic we expect to find at the ocean surface is missing.”<\/p>\n

He explained that as large plastics fragment over decades, they “become small enough to attach” to marine snow – which are tiny organic particles that sink to the ocean floor.<\/p>\n

But, even after a hundred years, he said fragments could still be found at surface level “floating and breaking down”.<\/p>\n

The study found that the breakdown of plastic over the time was “the limiting factor” in removing it from the ocean surface.<\/p>\n

It found that after a century, about 10% of the original plastic could remain afloat, where it releases harmful microplastics into the water.<\/p>\n

“To tackle the problem properly, we need long-term thinking that goes beyond just cleaning the surface,” Prof Manning said.<\/p>\n

The study is the third and final one of its kind by Queen Mary University of London and HR Wallingford exploring the journey of plastic in the ocean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ethan GudgeSouth of England Getty Images They found that plastic would float on the surface for more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-263385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}