Talk:Marine plastic pollution/Archive 1

Macro or only micro
The Term "plastic soup" seems to be used both to refer to marine plastic pollution in general, and to the insidious and pervasive microplastics only. Difficult, and needs more work and sources. Pam D  11:23, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Bibliography Expansion
Foekema, E. M., Gruijter, C. D., Mergia, M. T., Franeker, J. A., Murk, A. J., & Koelmans, A. A. (2013). Plastic in North Sea Fish. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(15), 8818-8824. doi:10.1021/es400931b

Jiang, Y., & Loos, K. (2016). Enzymatic Synthesis of Biobased Polyesters and Polyamides. Polymers, 8(7), 243. doi:10.3390/polym8070243

Rebolledo, E. L., Franeker, J. A., Jansen, O. E., & Brasseur, S. M. (2013). Plastic ingestion by harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in The Netherlands. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 67(1-2), 200-202. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.11.035

Suaria, G., Avio, C. G., Mineo, A., Lattin, G. L., Magaldi, M. G., Belmonte, G.,. . . Aliani, S. (2016). The Mediterranean Plastic Soup: Synthetic polymers in Mediterranean surface waters. Scientific Reports, 6(1). doi:10.1038/srep37551

liaod18

Liaod18 (talk) 21:05, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

Dominika's Peer Review
This article is very impressive, it is neutral, states the key points in the introduction, and is cited well. I would consider separating the article into subheadings if you wanted to develop it further. The last paragraph might sound better if placed below the second paragraph. The flow of writing is very good and does not favour a certain point of view. There is a clear structure and balanced coverage. There is a great range of sources from primary to secondary. Overall very well done! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Domixox (talk • contribs) 19:36, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

Peer Edit by Ruo Bei Yu
The context of the writing is neutral and easy to understand. I would suggest to include headings to separate the information as they do not flow. The content and information is lacking for each section. Example: the Plastic Soup Foundation is only described as a group that raises awareness about the situation, but expand more on if it has been successful or not. You can also expand on what are the implications of Plastic soup and if there is any government or public initiatives for this problem. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ruobeiyu (talk • contribs) 20:57, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

Peer Review by Ljutica
The lead section is very short, it only explains what the term plastic soup means. It is also one long run-on sentence, so that should definitely be modified. Providing facts on its environmental effects could help to make the reader understand why it is a growing issue today. The third paragraph is a run-on sentence and needs to be broken down into smaller sentences for better flow and structure. It seems to be lacking quite a bit of information on the growth of the plastic soups in the environment today. The article mentioned a few foundations/organizations that are trying to make a difference, but adding in a table with a list of groups and their main objective could be a good idea. I think it is important to discuss more in-depth on how this plastic soup is having an effect on aquatic ecosystems. The content of the article seems to focus mainly on what types of plastic or debris constitute types involved in the plastic soup. The article had a neutral point of view. The sources were fine, except the third reference that comes from a website which is not a primary source and it does not seem to have any properly cited references. Overall, keep up the good work! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ljutica (talk • contribs) 15:27, 17 March 2019 (UTC)

Peer Review by Lujhs
The lead is a long sentence that needs to be broken down into shorter sentences. The explanation of the topic is clear. Difference examples of the environment impact could be added to motivate the reader to read on or take further interest in the topic. The third section is difficult to read. Please break down into shorter sentences. There could be more information regarding the rate of growth of plastic soups in the environment today. Great example of the advocacy group. Surely, there are more groups that could be included as reference? A sub-topic to explore more thoroughly is effects on aquatic ecosystems (any differences between salt and fresh water?) The content of the article focuses mainly on categories of plastic debris in the plastic soup. The article had a neutral point of view. The article had acceptable sources. However, the website is not an appropriate source. Great work and very interesting topic ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lujhs (talk • contribs) 22:07, 23 March 2019 (UTC)

Broaden scope and change name
As per the discussion on the talk page of microplastics here, I plan to expand this article and change its name to Plastic pollution in oceans in the next few days. I have written about this on several talk pages now and on WikiProject pages and there have been no objections so far. EMsmile (talk) 00:42, 13 September 2021 (UTC)


 * No objection to the move, but the Marine debris article covers plastic pollution in oceans to an extent; overlap with that article should be limited.Dialectric (talk) 01:27, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi, yes, "plastic pollution in oceans" is covered in all sorts of articles, so right now (today) I am moving text blocks across so it gets bundled in just one article (this one), and the other articles should point the reader to this. There is a lot of overlap, repetition and outdated data out there on this topic. I hope that once it's bundled in one place we can work on bringing it to a good quality. EMsmile (talk) 03:05, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I have completed most of the moving of text now: I moved content from marine pollution, marine debris, garbage patch, Great Pacific garbage patch, South Pacific garbage patch, plastic pollution. Have I forgotten any other articles that had content about this? I still want to move content from SDG 14 (update: I have done that as well now). Now we can work on updating and removing repetition. It would also be good to compare with the equivalent article in the German Wikipedia which has more content and potentially a better structure (see here). Not speaking German is no excuse, we can use Google Translate (although I admit it might be quite tedious). ;-)  EMsmile (talk) 04:20, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

How to structure the section on microplastics better
I am trying to figure out how to give a sub-structure to the section on microplastics? It's got its own section but naturally it does overlap with other sections, e.g. the one about ingestion of plastics by birds. So I am not sure how best to structure this. EMsmile (talk) 04:21, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

Decision about new name
What is the preferred new name for this article? I did a quick Google search and Plastic pollution in the ocean is more common than Plastic pollution in oceans. Another term that comes up in Google searches is Ocean plastic pollution. That might be better because then we don't need the "in the" in the title? EMsmile (talk) 04:24, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Marine plastic pollution perhaps?   Pam  D  06:57, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I personally prefer "ocean" over "marine" (is ocean more colloquial and marine more scientific?). Looking at this ngram from Google Books it does seem that "marine plastic pollution" is the term used more in books though, so perhaps it's better. EMsmile (talk) 03:28, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I think "ocean" might be more common in US English than UK English. Perhaps because most UK coastline is not ocean, but North Sea or English Channel etc? Pam  D  04:41, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
 * "Ocean plastic pollution" implies (at least in my humble mind) that the source of the pollution is the ocean (since ocean is a noun and possessive here). That isn't what is happening out there. Yes marine traffic and fishing boats are a source of plastic but urban coastal cities and watersheds need to be included here as the "main" source. This is a land-based solid waste management problem. The term "marine plastic pollution" opens itself to various sources beyond the ocean itself (since marine is an adjective and less possessive here). So on that basis the latter is the better term. :-) ASRASR (talk) 08:01, 14 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Those are all good points, thanks. This document by the UN also uses the term "marine plastic debris" quite a bit ("UNDERSTANDING THE STATE OF THE OCEAN: A GLOBAL MANUAL ON MEASURING SDG 14.1.1, SDG 14.2.1 AND SDG 14.5.1): https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/35086 . Another option could be marine pollution from plastics. With regards to adjective versus noun, would "oceanic" work as an adjective? As in oceanic plastic pollution? But then plastic pollution in the ocean is probably clearer. Whichever title we choose in the end, we can place redirects from all the alternative titles. EMsmile (talk) 04:09, 15 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm inclining now towards Marine plastic pollution as a title. The term "oceanic" is often used to refer to the open ocean, the deep pelagic ocean beyond the continental shelves. So "oceanic plastic" might be a good term for the plastic found in the great ocean gyres. But as ASRASR points out, the connection of marine plastic to the land and river discharges is an integral part of the issue. So what happens along the coastlines is important as well. Estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass meadows, kelp forests and coastal shelves generally are all becoming profoundly impacted by plastic, and some coastal beaches and coastal seabeds contain more microplastic than sand. As an adjective, the term "ocean" does not lend itself to coastal processes as well as the term "marine" does. In short, the title "Marine plastic pollution" encompasses the totality of the situation better than "Ocean plastic pollution" does. — Epipelagic (talk) 21:07, 15 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks for these additional valuable inputs, Epipelagic. So I think we can move forward with Marine plastic pollution now. I'll make that change and also create those redirects. Thanks everyone. EMsmile (talk) 00:30, 16 September 2021 (UTC)
 * OK, I have just put the "delete" tag on the existing page called Marine plastic pollution because the page existed already as a redirect to marine debris. Might take a week before this deletion will be executed by an admin. Hope I did everything right in the process. EMsmile (talk) 00:56, 16 September 2021 (UTC)
 * You can just ask an admin to delete it for you - perhaps? — Epipelagic (talk) 02:33, 16 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I've just moved it.  Hut 8.5  18:34, 16 September 2021 (UTC)

Newly released UNEP publications
The two brand new UNEP publications might be used to amend the article: 2001:67C:10EC:574F:8000:0:0:22 (talk) 22:05, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * From Pollution to Solution: a global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution
 * Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 January 2019 and 9 April 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Wylanz, Liaod18. Peer reviewers: Ruobeiyu, Maliks10, Ljutica, Lujhs, Domixox, Confidedbliss.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 00:35, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 January 2019 and 3 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jennyeroll.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 00:35, 18 January 2022 (UTC)