The Great Plastic Lakes
Plastic pollution in the Great Lakes is something we’ve reported on in past editions of E-news. It’s a story in which the Coastal Centre made national news coverage in 2010 when plastic pellets began appearing on Lake Huron beaches. The story was covered on CBC’s The National, The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, and many media outlets across the country. It was a story that caught people’s attention as they wondered why plastics were appearing in Lake Huron and then began asking about the scope of the problem.
As more research was done to look closer into the issue, it became increasingly clear … plastic in the Great Lakes was becoming an emerging issue bigger than most people could imagine. U.S. researchers began trolling the waters of the open lakes and found alarming concentrations of micro-plastics (small particles less than 5 mm. in diameter) floating in the water. Some of these micro-plastics were discovered to have originated from cosmetic products, like soaps, exfoliating creams, toothpaste, and other common products. These barely visible particles (termed micro-beads) were concerning because they were so small, they were passing through filters at sewage treatment plants and getting into the lakes. Neither Canada, nor the United States, has regulations affecting sewage plant discharge of micro-plastics.
Politicians have become aware of the issue. Two U.S. states (Illinois and New Jersey) have already passed legislation banning products with plastic microbeads. Bill 75, The Microbead Elimination and Monitoring Act, has been introduced in Ontario and has passed second reading. The Coastal Centre has written to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change in support of this Bill. In addition to the proposed provincial legislation, a federal motion was made in Parliament to consider these micro-plastics to be a toxic substance.
In addition to the above, the Coastal Centre also reviewed data on plastic material gathered during beach cleanups. The range and amount of plastic litter on Lake Huron beaches was significant. In 2014, for example, community volunteers helped remove over 10,000 plastic articles from nearly 40 kilometres of beaches. The articles ranged from small fragments to larger ones, including intact beach toys and disposable plastic water bottles. The number one litter item was cigarette filters, which are composed of plastic fibres.
To gain a better perspective on the magnitude of the plastic pollution issue, the Coastal Centre partnered with a team of graduate students from Western University. The report from this analysis can be found here.
Most recently, a research team from the University of Waterloo published an article titled, “Plastic Debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes: a Review” in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. It looks at all available data, threats to the lakes ecosystems, including links to human health.
Some of the threats raised include:
Micro-plastics act as a sponge that can absorb toxins, like PCBs and heavy metals.
- Plastic can become ingested by aquatic wildlife, which can cause malnutrition, and accumulation of toxins in tissues.
- Fish and birds can become entangled in plastic fishing lines and nets that have been discarded or lost in the lake.
- Plastic can take thousands of years to degrade. In the meantime, accumulations of plastic in the lake environment could become very costly to clean up.
To move toward addressing at least part of this issue, the Coastal Centre, with funding from the provincial Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund, will begin a beach clean-up campaign in selected communities along Lake Huron. The aim will be to encourage communities to participate in local beach clean-up programs, connected to the national Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up program, that measure and analyze the plastic debris collected and report back to the community. This is debris that gets discarded by people, and burdens communities with collection, clean-up and landfill costs. This Centre project is aimed toward building some awareness of the issue, and encouraging active involvement in local solutions along the coast.
This spring, Coastal Centre staff worked with Bruce Power and the Bruce County Museum to deliver the Bruce Power Eco-Mentors Program. Coastal Centre staff taught students in Bruce County about plastic pollution and responsible waste management. This educational unit was made possible through funding from Bruce Power, and helped begin the awareness of the prevalence of this issue on our local shores.
In the longer view, the economic and environmental costs of plastic pollution will hopefully compel residents in the Great Lakes to re-examine their relationship with plastic, in what we use and what we buy.
Article by Geoff Peach, Coastal Resources Manager
More on Plastics in the Great Lakes – NOAA Technical Memorandum on Marine Debris Action Plan in the Great Lakes
Coastal Centre to Public: “Get Your Butts Off Our Beaches”
There. We said it. We want your butts off Lake Huron’s beaches. Permanently.
We probably should have prefaced the above comments by indicating that we are referring to cigarette filters. Our apologies for the double entendre.
That fact of the matter is that cigarette filters are the top waste discarded on our beaches. And further to our previous article on plastic, it should be known that cigarette filters are composed of plastic fibres. So, these butts are adding to our micro-plastic pollution problem. Not only that, but these filters pose a risk to shore wildlife who mistake the filters for food, and to the younger humanoids that play on our beaches, who can be exposed to toxins within the filters. Most would agree that this waste has no business being on our beaches.
(Coastal Centre staffs nephew surrounded by butts (red circles) on the beach, summer 2014. The butts were removed from his hands seconds before he tried to taste them.)
This summer, the Coastal Centre will be taking its “Butt Free Beach” campaign to Sarnia’s Canatara Park, Goderich waterfront beaches and Sauble Beach. People visiting these communities will be greeted with information signs that explain the concerns with cigarette filters on beaches, and makes available cardboard ash trays that form into cones that the user fills with sand to extinguish their butts, and when they are done, pours the sand out of the funnel end of the cone leaving the butts in the cone. Then the user can take the filters to the nearest waste receptacle for proper disposal as they leave the beach.
“Butt Free Beach” was first piloted by the Coastal Centre last summer at Grand Bend and Kincardine. The results were very positive among users, and brought a greater awareness of the issue to many beach-goers.
For more information on the Coastal Centre’s Butt Free Beach program, click here.
Victoria Day, Water Quality and the Coastal Centre
Victoria Day weekend is the traditional start of the cottage season on Lake Huron. Many people commemorate this event by enjoying their favourite beverage. The basis of all quenchables, whether it’s beer coolers, lemonade or even the ice you use to chill it, is WATER. We depend on good water quality for our beverages, and we work, as one of our four priorities, to protect water quality. Ergo, the Coastal Centre protects the quality of your beverages. (Do you like how we constructed that logic?)
To help ensure the future quality of your libations, consider a donation to the Coastal Centre to help our conservation work. Paying it forward for a good drink.
To make a donation click here.