Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
September 25, 2019 02:28 PM

Congressional hearing on marine plastics wades into the Great Lakes

Steve Toloken
Assistant Managing Editor
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Office of U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce
    Joyce

    Washington — Plastics in the ocean and birds with resin pellets in their bellies may attract the headlines, but it was the science behind microplastics in the Great Lakes that drew some pointed attention at a recent Congressional hearing.

    A Sept. 19 House appropriations subcommittee hearing on marine debris turned into a 90-minute crash course on plastics and marine science, with lawmakers probing where government science should go and looking at new areas, like how plastic marine debris is emerging as a new way for invasive species to travel the globe.

    Lawmakers representing states bordering the Great Lakes — states that are heavy with plastics product manufacturing — noted what one legislator called "increasing public concern" around plastics in the environment.

    Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, said he was "startled" by testimony about microfibers and microplastics in fish, and he quizzed scientists on what it might mean for food supplies.

    "The science is showing that microplastics enter the food web and eventually make their way into the food we eat," said Joyce, whose district borders Lake Erie. "We are only beginning to understand the extent of the issue and its implications for human health.

    "Plastics are one of the most pervasive types of marine debris and are drawing increasing public concern," he said. Joyce is the ranking Republican on the subcommittee.

    As well, the chair of the subcommittee, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., called for more scientific work around measuring microplastics. She also noted Great Lakes-related concerns, along with broader coastal concerns, and urged more focus on reducing single-use plastics.

    In her opening comments, McCollum noted the "vital" role of plastics in health care, food safety, transportation and other areas. But she said she was disturbed by research showing how "pervasive" microplastics were in the environment, from the peaks of the Rocky Mountains to Arctic ice flows.

    Marine debris cleanup in general and plastics in particular are a rising cost to taxpayers, she argued at several points in the hearing.

    "We as a subcommittee need to get serious about doing what we can to point out to the American public that we're paying for this," McCollum said. "We need to be wise as consumers and taxpayers to do what we can to reduce the use of these one-time plastics."

    The hearing was not called to advance new legislation. Rather, the oversight panel gathered to hear from government agencies under its jurisdiction, like the Department of the Interior, and from other scientists on what government agencies are doing and what else they should do.

    A lot of the lawmakers' focus was on plastics, especially in new areas of science.

    Under questioning from Joyce, for example, Chelsea Rochman, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and a science adviser to the Ocean Conservancy, noted that her work has found microfibers and microplastics in Lake Ontario fish, sometimes with more than 100 pieces in a fish.

    She said she began her research on microplastics in the ocean but later included the Great Lakes.

    "Coming from starting my research in the middle of the ocean, the amount of microplastics in the Great Lakes is striking," Rochman said. She testified that the Great Lakes do not dilute particles the way the oceans do, potentially making microplastics more concentrated.

    Most of that microplastic in fish is found in the guts, which people generally do not eat, and researchers are trying to determine if it migrates into the parts of the fish that people do eat, she said.

    The evidence is mixed, she said, with one study finding little or no migration in rainbow trout. But there's not a lot of research, Rochman said.

    In his opening remarks, Joyce cited research that found 22 million pounds of plastic enters the Great Lakes each year.

    "As the largest freshwater system on earth and a source of drinking water for millions, the volume of debris in the Great Lakes is alarming," he said.

    Office of U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum

    McCollum

    Traveling invasions

    The discussion also looked at another newer area of research: whether plastics and marine debris can transport invasive species.

    Linsey Haram, a marine ecologist with the Smithsonian Institution's Environmental Research Center, said plastic played a role in transporting more than 280 invertebrate marine species from Japan after the 2011 tsunami to the shores of Hawaii and the west coast of North America.

    It was the first time in history that researchers have been able to observe the transport of nonnative species in real time, she said.

    "The scale and duration of this event was unprecedented, due in part to the presence of highly durable man-made debris, particularly plastics and plastic-compound materials, which effectively acted as rafts for coastal species at sea," Haram said.

    She said historically the main drivers of transporting invasive species around the world have been ships, either on their hulls or in ballast water, but that's changing.

    "Within the past decade ... floating plastic debris has entered as a potential new source of coastal species introductions," she said.

    McCollum and Joyce both noted concerns around invasive species in the Great Lakes.

    The vice chair of the subcommittee, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, pointed to research that 60 percent of seabird species have eaten plastic and said the hearing brought attention to the "severe impacts" of microplastics in the ocean.

    "We need to get back to basics and realize that these convenience plastics are costing our environment, our ecosystem and our oceans in particular," Pingree said.

    In a press release issued after the hearing, Pingree, who is an original cosponsor of the industry-backed Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, called plastics a "widespread environmental contaminant."

    The hearing also touched on policy questions. Pingree noted a 2015 U.S. law that banned plastic microbeads in cosmetics and asked witnesses if the legislation worked.

    Rochman, a prominent researcher who has spoken at UN conferences and met privately with members of Congress on ocean pollution issues, said the microbead ban has substantially reduced those particles in Lake Ontario.

    "We used to find that microbeads were about 20 percent of the particles in our surface water samples," she said. "Now, we don't see them as often; microbeads are very few. That's a fantastic example of when you prevent something at the source, it does indeed go away."

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Using toilet seats to send Congress a cancer message
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Biden sets US goal to replace 90% of plastics with biomaterials
    2
    Polymer Points Live March 2023: Commodity resin prices rising, but engineering resins see drops
    3
    Ad panels say ABA overstated PET bottle recycling efforts
    4
    Boston buys sole ownership of General Polymers
    5
    Film maker Inteplast sees green in green
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified