Unveiling the Ocean's Plastic Time Capsule

Micro (MP) and nanoplastics (NP) represent a growing, global concern due to their unclear environmental fate and ecosystem effects. Plastics have been in common use since the 1950s, but were not widely recognised as a major ocean issue until the 1980s. While there is a current effort to improve understanding of MP and NP behaviour in the oceans, the quantity and distribution of early plastics is almost entirely unknown. The mid-1900s were also a time of ocean exploration, with expeditions such as Galathea circumnavigating the globe. Numerous samples from expeditions are in museum collections and are potential time capsules of ocean plastics. This project will use historical samples from the 1950s to the 1970s, paired with high resolution nano-infra red Raman spectroscopy to determine when and to what extent early plastics entered the ocean. This information is essential to understanding current and predicting future MP and NP impacts, ultimately driving future environmental policy.