A historical period characterised by the use of plastic and ecological collapse (?!)

ICONEO: German artist Steffen Kraft, who also goes by the name Iconeo

The Plastic People in the Plastic Age

The scientific name for the human species Homo sapiens is Latin for “wise man”. The Latin noun homō (genitive hominis) means “human being”, while the participle sapiēns means “discerning, wise and sensible”. The subspecies name Homo sapiens sapiens is sometimes used informally to indicate “anatomically modern humans”, in order to distinguish us from other “discerning, wise and sensible” hominis i.e. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens rhodesiensis. As a matter of fact, someone would expect a next subspecies of H. sapiens named as Homo sapiens digitals or silicons. But contrary to the initial expectations we are gradually transforming to a new and unpredictable subspecies, the Homo sapiens plasticus — more commonly known as The Plastic People.

How to survive the plastic age

Apparently, The Plastic people — namely us — is the next subspecies that is going to dominate the fourth phase in the development of material culture anywhere on earth, with this period possibly referred in the future as the Plastic Age or the cradles of Plastification. In fact, as we now entering the Early Plastic Age, Homo sapiens plasticus across the world produce roughly 300 millions tons of plastic every year (50% of which is for single-use purposes), while 8 million tons of this plastic is dumped into our oceans every year. Moreover, unwittingly The Plastic people consume roughly 5 grams of plastic each week (with honey, sugar, rice, pasta, bread, milk, toothpaste, toothbrushes, chicken gizzards etc). That’s about 250 grams per year or more than a half-pound of plastic every 12 months. In our lifetime as H. sapiens plasticus— average life expectancy 79 years and assuming the situation doesn’t improve or worsen — its is estimated that we are going to consume something like 20 kilograms of plastic. That’s more plastic than two mobile recycling bins! But, not only we eat and drink plastic particles but we actually breath them in as well. That’s definitely not wise for a H. sapiens.

So, Is It Healthy? We Still Don’t Know.

But How Did We Get Here?

ICONEO: German artist Steffen Kraft, who also goes by the name Iconeo online

Microplastics: a new ingredient in our diet

Microplastics are minuscule pieces of plastic that range from 5mm to 100 nm (nanoplastics) and can be subdivided into primary microplastics (manufactured as microbeads, nurdles and fibres) and secondary microplastics formed because of larger plastics breaking down by UV rays (photo-oxidative degradation), wind and wave. In particular, in a recent study they have found that the the average H. sapiens plasticus eats at least 50,000 particles of plastic a year and breathes in a similar quantity.

For example many of our clothes are made of synthetic plastic fibres (nylon or polyethylene terephthalate) and during only a washing cycle can shed up to 700,000 fibres ending up in our oceans. In fact, the fashion industry not only is known to produce 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions but it is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply, polluting our oceans with microplastics that eventually contaminate our food chain. Moreover, microbeads are just unnecessary plastic beads used for exfoliating and personal care products — that hopefully are being banned in different countries around the world right now — that can readily move through water filtration systems and end up in oceans, lakes and other bodies of water. Another study has estimated that our oceans are now contaminated by 8.3 million pieces of mini-microplastics per cubic meter of water while previous studies of larger pieces have found only 10 pieces per cubic meter. Microplastics are also ‘omnipresent’ in all European rivers. Is also worth mentioning that the oil and gas industry is under investigation for the use of products with intentionally added microplastics — used in some circulation materials in drilling and also for viscosity modification — eventually polluting our oceans. For that reason, on 11 May 2018, European Commission has requested to investigate the need for a restriction on such particles in the oil and gas industry.

Moreover, microplastic pollution is raining down on city dwellers, with research revealing London has the highest levels yet recorded: the rate of microplastic deposition measured in London is 20 times higher than in Dongguan, China, 7 times higher than in Paris and nearly 3 times higher than Hamburg, Germany. A new study has shown also that microplastics in soil can be harmful to worms, causing them to lose weight. Earthworms are an important part of farming as they help boost the nutrients found in the soil — so this latest form of plastic pollution is particularly bad news for farmers. But microplastcics have also been detected in the atmosphere, both indoor and outdoor environments. Another study has found microplastics in the French Pyrenees mountains, probably after microplastic particles have traveled from 95km or more away.

To make a long story short, microplastics are ubiquitous environmental contaminants.

But what is plastic?

Plastic in general is an organic polymer of high molecular mass that often contains other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals (an array of variants are made from renewable materials such as polylactic acid from corn or cellulosics from cotton linters). The vast majority of these polymers are formed from chains of carbon atoms, ‘pure’ or with the addition of: oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur. When these plastics broke down to microplastics can eventually go through further degradation, with the carbon in polymer being modified into CO2, which can be taken up into marine biomass.

But what happens when we eat and breathe in microplastics?

Early Plastic Age: What we know so far

Imagine now The Plastic people all around the world eating (honey, salt), drinking (water, beer) and inhaling microplastics. This consumption of microplastics has recently been confirmed by research that found microplastics in the feces of people from Europe, Russia, and Japan. But the first question that comes in mind is whether the microplastics that we ingest completely leave our body through the digestive system, or whether a percentage of these remains in our bodies? And if these microplastics remain, could our digestive system be harmed? Or worse, could these microplastics migrate from the intestines to the rest of our bodies? In a study with mice, analysis of multiple biochemical biomarkers and metabolic profiles, suggested that microplastic exposure induced disturbance of energy and lipid metabolism as well as oxidative stress. Interestingly, blood biomarkers of neurotoxicity were also altered. Moreover, the microplastics accumulated across mice tissues in this study, indicated that tissue accumulation of microplastics probably cause various adverse effects such as: physical injury, reduction of feeding activity, inhibition of growth and development, energy deficiency, immune responses, oxidative stress, neurotoxic responses, metabolic disorder and genotoxicity.

Usually, when our body detects foreign substances our immune system is activated. But our immune system wasn’t designed to tackle plastic intruders (not biodegradable). So how does the immune system respond to nano- and microplastics? We don’t know. Do these particles weaken our immune system? We don’t know. Another potential problem is that bacteria and fungi (and all pathogens) tend to grow on plastic waste, so plastic litter could contribute to the spread of pathogens. Eventually, this inability of our immune system to remove plastic may lead to chronic inflammation and increase risk of neoplasia.

Moreover, while microplastcis may be inhaled more likely are cleared by the lungs and airways with other particular matter we normally inhale. But there is the chance that they might persist in the airways, causing localised biological reactions such as inflammation, particularly in people with compromised health. But could these plastic particles accumulate in our lungs and eventually spread to the rest of our bodies? Can microplastics even penetrate our brain? For now we know that nanoplastics can move up the aquatic food chain and be absorbed by predators’ brains, affecting their ability to hunt, eventually disrupting entire ocean ecosystems.

Another potentially major consequence of chronic exposure to microplastics that has been largely neglected is the following: the impact of the disruption of the symbiosis between host and the natural community and abundance pattern of the gut microbiota. This so-called dysbiosis might be caused by the consumption of microplastics, associated mechanical disruption within the gastrointestinal tract, the ingestion of foreign and potentially pathogenic bacteria, as well as chemicals, which make-up or adhere to microplastics. Dysbiosis may interfere with the host immune system and trigger the onset of (chronic) diseases, promote pathogenic infections, and alter the gene capacity and expression of gut microbiota.

Furthermore, microplastics release thousands of hormone-disrupting chemicals. There are more than 85,000 manufactured chemicals, of which thousands are Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) and phthalates found in plastics and other consumer products which end up in the sea. Unfortunately, chemicals in plastic have triggered rising levels of abnormal development and illnesses over the past five decades, ranging from stunted fertility and male/female sex malformations to obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart attacks and cognitive, behavioural and other brain-related problems. Now according to Dr. Ivone Mirpuri, a leading hormone specialist, “There is now solid scientific evidence that the so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDC’s, now commonplace in the natural environment as a result of plastic pollution, are blocking the natural function of hormones”.

Last but not least, the concentration of mercury in the surface level of the ocean is probably three or four times higher today than it was 500 years ago. Mercury in the ocean mutates into methylmercury, which is an organic form of mercury, and it is far more dangerous because it easily concentrates during its journey up the food chain: heavy metal toxins naturally cling to plastic in the water because plastic has a negative charge and mercury a positive one, so the two attract. This process creates toxic food consumed by fish that eventually ends up on our dinner plates: so methylmercury finds its way to our dinner plate from the marine ecosystem’s smallest organisms — phytoplankton and zooplankton — from fish to humans. That is to say, ocean plastic pollution is a powerful toxic avenue to neurologic toxins in the human brain.

ICONEO: German artist Steffen Kraft, who also goes by the name Iconeo

Intermediate and Late Plastic Age: What might become of us

While all above mentioned information sounds alarming — or kind of new age propaganda depending which party you vote — the reality is that it is alarming! More likely at the end of the Early Plastic Age and the beginning of the Intermediate Plastic Age, the imminent plastic pollution catastrophe would have definitely “terminated” several aquatic and terrestrial microorganisms and animals, eventually completely altering our food chain and contaminating everything on earth. And even though a lot of Plastic People will die as a result of the plastic pollution — especially those with a compromised immune system and detoxification system (in an epidemic of cancer) — the survival of “the most plastic” individuals during the Late Plastic Age will eventaully give rise to the Post Plastic Age and adequate civilisations. Hopefully, they will be wiser than us. But remember is not the survival of the richest or the smartest that nature has in mind but the survival of the fittest. So, going forward the Intermediate and the Late Plastic Age will be also be characterised by a global economic turmoil and social restructuring, more likely for everyone.

Solutions so far for our plastic emergency

An irish teen scientist won a $50,000 Science Fair Prize for a method of extracting microplastics from water, after developing a technique to remove microplastics from water using magnetic liquid. Sound waves can also be used to separate microplastics from laundry wastewater. As reported by a new study a new setup was found to capture 95% of PET fibers, and 99% of Nylon fibers from wastewater. Moreover, scientists have repurposed living frog cells — and assembled them into entirely new life-forms creating these tiny ‘xenobots’ — creating something that are neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. In fact, they’re a new class of artifact, a living, programmable organism that can used also for gathering microplastics in the oceans. A Bratislava-based startup Leitner Technologies uses a process of thermal depolymerization to recycle plastic waste into “Plastoil,” low sulfur oil that can be used as fuel machines or for heating. APK, a company from Merseburg, Germany, has built a recycling plant that leverages technology for recycling plastic waste that yields single-origin, new-quality plastics, effectively giving longer life to recycled plastics. Also a Dutch startup Ioniqa, which was part of Impact Hub’s Plastic Free Ocean Accelerator program in 2018, is utilising its depolymerisation technology to remove impurities, take out colorants and recycle PET plastic (a common thermoplastic polymer resin) to its original raw materials, making it more attractive for reuse. Finally, scientists have created by accident a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles: in fact the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic appeared at a waste dump in Japan. But of course there is still a long way to go…