With 13 million tons of plastic ending up in our oceans annually and only 9% of single-use plastic being recycled in Canada, we, the Plastics Team of Youth to Sea have worked on a project to make a difference towards plastic reduction.

Throughout the past 5 months, we have come together to raise awareness about plastic pollution in our ocean. 3-D printed from a sustainable, biodegradable material called PLA, a killer whale, salmon, and krill visually represent the plastics that are consumed by aquatic animals, hence our project name “The Killer Plastics.” The animals' stomach have been filled with garbage from our daily lives, such as plastic utensils, yogurt containers, and wrappers. Our mission is to inform youth about how plastic travels in the ocean’s food web, introduce a few animals that are affected by plastic, educate them about plastic pollution, and encourage procedures that can be performed to reduce the amount of plastic entering our ocean. 

What is a Food Web?

Every living organism in an ecosystem is part of multiple food chains. In our example of the food chain, the the krill feeds on plankton; the salmon consumes the krill; the killer whale hunts the salmon. A food web consists of all the food chains combined in a single ecosystem. It is significant for us to know about the food web because it showcases the feeding relationships among species within a community, revealing species interactions and community structure. By studying the food web, we also understand the dynamics of an ecosystem and how plastic accumulates in the larger animals in the process of bioaccumulation.

Plastic's Role in the Food Web:

With plastic entering the oceans, the aquatic animals have ingested plastic and adapted to a living environment filled with plastic waste. Although our ocean appears to be free of plastic, plastic waste is constantly breaking down into microplastic pieces, floating in ocean. With predation and the food chain, microplastic pieces move through the food chain, fueling the process of bioaccumulation where plastic concentrates in the larger aquatic animals' stomach. Standing at the top of the food chain, humans also suffer from bioaccumulation. According to our research, every week, humans consume 5 grams of plastic that originates in our seafood. Plastic can cause cancer or alter hormone activity (endocrine disruption) in humans, causing reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment (Geneva Environment Network)