How the Chesapeake Bay Became a Sinkhole For Plastic Pollution

Researchers have found the Chesapeake bay to be a sinkhole for plastic pollution of all kinds. Much of the plastic does not pass on to pollute the ocean but instead accumulates in the bay area.

The researchers found that 95% of microplastics that found their way into the Chesapeake Bay stayed there.

Matt Robinson, an environmental protection specialist for the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy and Environment, said, “The fact that stuff doesn’t get pushed out into the ocean. That we’re retaining plastic is a big find. It potentially means there could be serious effects of plastic on Bay ecology.”

The team of researchers is currently trying to find out what this accumulation of microplastics will mean for the ecosystem. As there is still very little known about how our plastic waste is truly damaging the environment.

Meredith Evans Seeley, a doctoral candidate at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, said, “All these organisms have different roles in the ecosystem, and if we add plastics and change what organisms are there, we’re changing the function they have, for the environment.”

They are currently trying to understand how these plastics will eventually impact the ecosystem and the wildlife around it.

This is just one example of many that highlight the dangers of plastic pollution. Showing the after-effects of all of the plastic waste that we as a society create.

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